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THE  LIBRARY 
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M9APAM^S 

BOOK  STORE 

San  DiEGO. 


THEOLOGY  AND  MYTHOLOGY. 

AN  INQUIRY  INTO  THE  CLAIMS 

OF 

BIBLICAL  INSPIRATION 

AND 

THE  SUPERNATURAL  ELEMENT  0  EELI5I0H. 

BY 

ALFRED  n.  O'DONOGHUE, 

COUNSELOR  AT  LAW, 
Formerly    of. Trinity    College,    Dublin.' 


NEW  YORK : 
CHARLES   P.   SOMERBY, 

iS  Bond  Street. 

1880. 


Copyrighted, 

By  C.  P.  Somerby, 

1879. 


C.  P.  Soaierby, 

Electrotyper  and  Printer, 

18  Bond-st.,  N.  Y. 


TO  MY   FATHEU, 

JAMES   O'DONOGIiUE,  Esq., 

FAITIIFUf-    IJf    TxaE    DISCIIAEGE    OF    ALL    DUTIES,    OF    LIBERAL 

CULTUKE    AND    MOST    GENEROUS    HEART, 

* 

THIS  LITTLE  WORK  IS  MOST  RESPECTFULLY 
DEDICATED, 

""by 

The    Author. 


1644113    ■ 


Not  as  adventitious,  therefore,  will  the  wise  man  regard  the 
faith  which  is  in  him.  The  higliest  truth  he  sees  he  will  fear- 
lessly utter ;  knowing  that,  let  what  may  come  of  it,  he  is 
thus  playing  his  right  part  in  tlie  world — knowing  that  if  he 
can  effect  the  change  he  aims  at,  well  :  if  not  —  well,  also, 
though  not  so  well.  —  IIekceiit  Spencer. 


PREFACE. 

This  little  work  is  written  in  no  spirit  hostile  to  the 
religious  sentiment  of  mankind.  It  seeks  merely  to  elim- 
inate what  is  pm'ely  false,  without  foundation  in  fact,  and 
fictitious  in  Christianity  as  now  taught.  The  doctrines 
that  Jesus  taught — the  brotherhood  of  man  and  the  con- 
demnation of  priestcraft — entitle  him  forever  to  the  ad- 
miration and  gratitude  of  his  race :  for  he  must  be 
regarded,  to  do  him  justice,  not  alone  a  Jew,  but  em- 
phatically, as  he  claimed  for  himself,  the  Son  of  Man. 

The  author  claims,  at  least,  sincerity  of  conviction  in 
Ills  sentiments.  Born,  as  it  is  expressed,  in  the  Episco- 
pal Church,  and  carefully  educated  in  her  doctrines,  it 
Avas  only  after  entering  the  Dublin  University,  at  the  ago 
of  eighteen,  with  the  intention,  at  the  proper  time — 
which  in  tliat  institution  is  the  last  year  of  the  curricu- 
lum— of  entering  the  Divinity  School,  that  his  mind  un- 
derwent a  great  change  both  as  to  the  so-called  truths  of 
Revelation  and  the  sincerity  of  belief  held  in  those  as- 
sumed truths  by  over  three-fourths  of  the  ordained  and 
educated  preachers  of  the  gospel  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact.     Tlie  subsequent  reading,  for  twenty  years,  of 


viii  Preface. 

books  written  on  both  sides  of  the  question  convinced 
the  writer  that  if  he  would  XDreservc  mental  independ- 
ence and  avoid  tJie  moral  crime  of  hypocrisy,  he  must 
abandon  the  theory  of  miraculous  interventions  and  vio- 
lations of  the  Avell-known  laws  of  nature. 

So  far,  personal.  The  subject  of  the  supernatural 
and  miraculous  is  discussed,  T  believe,  fairly  in  the  fol- 
lowing pao-es.  The  work  was  written  in  the  evenings  oi 
a  winter  v/hen  free  from  professional  labor.  Residing  in 
a  portion  of  the  country  wdiere  access  to  libraries  was 
almost  impossible,  the  work  is  by  no  means  as  complete 
as  it  would  otherwise  have  been.  He  is  aware  of  its 
many  deficiencies  both  in  style  of  composition  and  ar- 
rangement of  matter;  yet,  such  as  it  is,  and,  in  view  of 
the  ecclesiastical  influence  now  warring  against  our  free 
schools,  as  a  protest  against  the  clerical  domination  of 
all  churches  which  bring  their  influence  to  bear  perni- 
cipusly  both  upon  public  affairs  and  domestic  relations,  I 
submit  this  essay  to  the  lovers  of  free  thought  and  free 
speech  throughout  the  United  States. 

The  Author. 


THEOLOGY  AND  MYTHOLOGY. 

PART   I. 

CHAPTER  L 

A  DEEP  and  constantly  increasing  interest  is  mani- 
fested in  the  vexed  question  of  the  attitude  of  Science  to 
Theology  and  of  Reason  to  Revelation.  The  subject  is 
by  no  means  a  novel  one.  From  the  dim  dawn  of  human 
civilization,  man  has  been  engaged  in  speculation  as  to 
his  origin,  his  place  in  nature,  and  the  possibility,  proba- 
bility or  certainty  of  living  again  after  he  had  passed  off 
the  stage  of  mundane  existence.  There  is  no  lack  of 
books  written  by  men  of  great  ability  and  learning  on 
the  subject  of  the  antiquity  of  man.  Geologists  assert 
that  the  planet  we  inhabit  has  been  in  existence  for  a 
period  embracing  millions  of  years,  and,  from  indisputa- 
ble prehistoric  traces  left  behind  him,  have  concluded 
that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  have  elapsed  since 
the  primitive  man  first  roamed  the  waste  places  of  earth. 
At  the  outset  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  subject  of  the 
origin  of  our  race  or  of  animal  life  upon  this  globe  is  in- 


10  Theology  and  ]\[ythology. 

vols'cd  in  profound  and  almost  inextricable  mystery.  In 
tlic  contem2:)lation  of  it  we  are  lost  in  a  wilderness  of 
perplexity.  We  roam  in  every  direction,  seeking  a  patli 
that  may  lead  to  the  clear  light,  and  find  ourselves,  when 
the  slanting  rays  of  the  setting  sun  fall  upon  the  close  of 
the  long  day's  journey,  as  fiir  from  obtaining  a  satisfactory 
solution  of  the  great  problem  of  existence  as  we  were 
when  we  first  entered  upon  the  pursuit.  We  shout  from 
man  to  man  and  from  church  to  clmrcli  for  instruction 
down  the  darkened  ages ;  but  the  only  echo  back  is  "  the 
voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness."  One  church 
cries,  "  Follow  me — I  know  the  way."  Another,  "My 
compass  is  true  and  never  deviates."  But,  as  we  travel 
tlie  paths  of  the  self-constituted  leaders,  we  find  only  the 
tracks  of  those  who  have  preceded  us,  whitening  the  way- 
side, century  after  century,  as  the  bleached  bones  of 
camels  that  have  perished  from  thirst  in  the  sandy  desert 
mark  the  course  of  hapless  caravans.  Life  to  all  of  us 
is  a  solemn  fact ;  to  many,  a  sad  one.  Busy  ourselves 
as  we  may  in  what  are  considered  its  chief  pursuits — the 
acquisition  of  wealth,  power,  place,  reputation,  honorable 
distinction  in  professional  calling  or  the  discharge  of  do- 
mestic duties — there  will  nevertheless  recur  at  times  the 
mournful  consideration  of  the  vanity  of  all  evanescent 
enjoyments  and  pursuits;  and  the  man  who  thinks,  aa 
well  as  the  man  who  laughs,  will  ask  himself,  "  Whence 
came  I  ?  Where  am  I  ?  And  where  do  I  go  when  the 
process  called  death  disintegrates  body  and  brain? 
What  is  soul  ?  What  is  spirit  ?  What  is  God  ?  Is 
matter  eternal  ?  Does  intelligence  govern  the  uni- 
verse, or  is  law  self-evolved  and  inherent  in  matter?" 
The  remark  of  the  Hebrew  poet,  that  "  we  are  fearfully 


Theology  and  Mythology.  11 

and  wonderfully  made,"  though  possessing  no  striking 
novelty,  ia  profoundly  true.  Wo  have  capacities  of  the 
highest  order.  Science  enables  us  to  traverse  the  path- 
less ocean  with  as  much  ease  and  safety  as  we  would  the 
streets  of  a  familiar  city.  We  can  weigh  the  stars  and 
measure  their  distances ;  yet  of  ourselves  we  know  almost 
nothing.  AVe  entertain  tolerably  accurate  ideas  of  time 
and  space ;  yet,  when  we  extend  these  ideas  so  as  to  em- 
brace infinity  of  space  aiid  eternity  of  duration — when 
we  endeavor  in  some  sort  to  realize  the  necessary  exist- 
ence of  infinity  and  eternity — we  find  our  reasoning 
powers  confused  at  the  vastness  of  the  contemplation. 
The  ordinary  exercise  of  reason  almost  immediately  con- 
vinces, us  that  time  never  had  a  becjinninof  and  can  have 
no  termination ;  yet  so  magnificent  and  appalling  are 
these  very  conceptions,  that  the  mind  fails  to  grasp  them 
in  their  limitless  grandeur. 

It  has  long  been  established  as  a  metaphysical  axiom 
that  all  human  knowledge  is  derived  from  sensation  and 
reflection.  Theologians  have,  however,  in  all  ages  held 
that  there  exists  another  source  of  knowledge,  communi- 
cated to  man  in  a  miraculous  and  supernatural  manner. 
Anciently  it  was  vulgarly  believed  that  God  held  inter- 
course with  man  in  dreams,  by  visions  and  oracular 
responses.  Homer  makes  Achilles  to  say,  "But,  come, 
let  us  ask  some  prophet  or  priest,  or  interpreter  of 
dreams — for  dreams  are  from  Dios — why  Phoebus  Apollo 
is  angered."  So  common  had  tlie  practice  become  in 
ancient  times  of  seeking  knowledge  supposed  to  be  di- 
vinely inspired,  even  embracing  the  most  ordinary  trans- 
actions of  daily  Jife,  that  we  find  the  so-called  Jewish 
liistorical  writings  abounding  witli  frequent  reference  to 


12  Theology  and  Mythology. 

the  practice.  Saul,  the  first  king  of  Israel,  when  he  lost 
his  father's  asses  consulted  Samuel  the  prophet.  And  in 
this  connection  we  are  incidentally  informed  that,  "  Be- 
fore time  in  Israel,  when  a  man  went  to  inquire  of  God, 
thus  he  spake  :  Come,  let  us  go  to  the  seer ;  for  he  that 
is  now  called  a  prophet  was  beforetime  called  a  seer." 
In  these  pages  the  inquiry  shall  be,  whether  trutli,  com- 
monly called  divine,  has  been  at  all,  miraculously,  in 
times  past,  conveyed  to  man ;  ^ivhether  he  has  had  any 
revelation,  sure  and  unerring,  made  to  him  by  a  Being 
who  is  the  source  of  all  light ;  or  whether  all  knowledge 
has  not  been  self-acquired  and  suggested  to  him  by  the 
phenomena  that  surround  him  ? 

No  age  that  has  elapsed  since  the  death  of  Christ  has 
been  marked  by  more  mental  activity  and  restlessness 
than  the  present.  In  all  branches  of  inquiry  men  arc 
fiercely  and  aggressively  in  earnest.  Earth,  air  and  wa- 
ter are  daily  ransacked  by  seekers  after  knowledge.  In 
the  silent  watches  of  the  night  sleepless  sentinels  sweep 
with  their  telescopes  the  starry  heavens,  awaiting  the 
advent  of  a  new  world.  To  solve  a  geographical  p"ob- 
lem,  men  freely  and  eagerly  abandon  the  pleasures  of 
civilized  life  and  wrestle  with  death  in  the  dreary  and 
silent  waters  of  polar  seas.  They  perish  miserably  amid 
the  frozen  barriers  of  eternal  ice  that  guard  the  frontiers 
of  nature,  or  leave  their  unburied  bones  on  the  burning 
sand  of  some  Sahara  in  the  heart  of  an  unexplored  con- 
tinent. Others,  on  whom  fortune  has  laid  no  necessity 
to  labor,  work  into  the  bosom  of  the  earth,  not  to  snatch 
from  her  the  prized  bauble  the  v»'orld  worships,  but  the 
greater  wealth  of  knowledge.     Science  strikes  the  rock 


Theology  and  IFytliolorjy.  13 

with  a  rod  more  potent  than  the  magic  wand  of  Moses, 
and  oil  flows  where  water  trickled  !  The  Jewish  law- 
giver wrote  ten  precepts  on  stone  :  Geology  has  written 
on  the  rocks  the  history  of  the  world  ! 

It  is  common  to  praise  the  past  and  to  reverence  the 
annals  of  antiquity.  For  this  there  exists  no  valid  rea- 
son. Age  alone  stamps  value  upon  nothing.  The  past 
has  indeed  bequeathed  us  a  few  names  that  neither  rust 
nor  mildew  has  fallen  upon.  For  them,  no  honor  tliat 
the  after  ages  have  given  is  beyond  their  desert.  They 
shine  like  briglit  beacons  across  the  gloomy  waste  of 
dark  and  barren  ages.  Tlie  orators,  poets,  teachers  and 
philosophers  of  Greece  and  Rome  were  great  men,  not 
^relatively,  but  positively ;  j^et,  as  the  low  sun  lengthens 
the  shadow,  so  their  reputation  has  been  increased  by  the 
medium  througli  which  it-  was  reflected.  The  standard 
of  general  culture  and  intelligence  is  far  liigher  now  than 
ever.  For  "  the  thoughts  of  men  are  widened  with  the 
process  of  the  suns,"  and  men  of  eminence  in  their 
several  callings  who  attract  no  special  attention,  would, 
liad  they  lived  in  the  "  dark  ages,"  be  considered  prodi- 
gies of  learning  and  intellectual  giants.  When  Paul 
and  Barnabas  preached  the  gospel  and  healed  the  sick 
at  Lysti'a,  the  wonder -loving  Lycaonians  cried  out,  "  The 
gods  are  come  down  to  us  in  the  likeness  of  men,"  and 
th.ey  called  Barnabas  Jupiter,  and  Paul  Mercurius  be- 
cause he  was  the  chief  speaker. 

"VVe  have  had  some  very  fine  public  speakers  in  mod- 
ern times,  yet  blind  adulation  never  attributed  to  any  of 
them  a  divine  origin.  No  man  who  bestows  attention 
upon  the  tendency  of  modern  thought  can  fail  to  perceive 
that  a  silent  struggle  for  final  mastery  is  being  daily 


14  Theology  and  Ifythology. 

waged  between  the  claims  of  "  Divine  Inspiration  "  and 
scientific  and  philosophical  inquiry.  This  conflict  varies 
essentially  from  any  that  has  preceded  it.  True,  indeed, 
Galileo  souglit  to  paint  the  sunrise  of  Science  on  the 
shadow  of  night ;  Luther,  Servetus,  Melancthon,  Bruno 
and  others  braved  the  terrors  of  the  Inquisition  in  de- 
fense of  what  they  conceived  to  be  religious  truth  ;  but 
these  conflicts  sink  into  insignificance  compared  with  the 
magnitude  of  the  present  one.  Formerly,  ponderous 
books  were  written,  full  of  wearisome  scholarship  and 
logical  refinement,  and  discussions  by  grave  doctors  were 
continued,  from  generation  to  generation,  on  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Trinity,  the  status  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  Origi- 
nal Sin,  Consubstantiation  and  Transnbstantiation,  Sub- 
lapsarianism  and  Supralapsarianisra,  Predestination  and 
Free  Will ;  and  in  some  cases  descending,  with  only  the 
acrimony  churchmen  know,  to  such  unimportant  inquiries 
as,  whether  Adam,  the  first  man,  ha,d  a  navel  or  not.  This 
doubtless  was  inquiry,  but  inquiry  within  narrow  bounds. 
Now  that  warfare  has  been  abandoned.  Even  actual 
controversial  conflict  no  longer  exists  between  the  Catho- 
lic church  and  the  se%^eral  dissenting  Protestant  churclies. 
In  tlie  face  of  a  new  enemy,  sapping  the  foundations  on 
which  they  all  assume  to  stand,  the  churches  are  in  a 
condition  of  armed  neutrality,  and  are  preserving  an 
ominous  silence  that  renders  more  palpable  the  fierce- 
ness of  the  assault  and  more  audible  the  sound  of  the 
ringing  blows  falling  upon  the  ancient  bulwarks  of  faith. 
In  this  conflict  Science  is  making  no  direct  assault 
npon  what  is  stjdcd  Kevelution.  Darwin,  Tyndall, 
Ilffickel,  Mill,  Spencer,  Huxley  and  others  who  consti- 
tute the  brighter  lights  of  the  school  of  modern  liberal 


Theology  and  Mythology.  15 

tliouglit  and  scientific  inqniiy,  avoid  almost  studiously 
an}^  conflict  with  the  pretensions  of  Theology.     Their 
^vork — and  their  glory,  too — is  not  to  engage  in  profitless 
discussion  with  churchmen,  but  to  collect  facts,  to  ex- 
plore nature  and  to  wrest  her  secrets  from  her.     If  the 
conclusions  tliey  are  forced  to  draw  should  not  support  the 
claims  of  Theology,  they  cease  to  trouble  themselves 
about  the  matter,  and,  totally  indifi'erent  to  consequences, 
attempt  no  forced  theories  of  reconciliation  between  the 
conflicting  revelations  of  Science    and  Religion.     The 
Hebrew  Bible  tells  us,  if  its  chronology  be  accepted,  that 
this  planet  is  about  six  thousand  years  old.     Geological 
science  settles  it  beyond  all  doubt  that  a  period  embrac- 
ing millions  of  years  has  elapsed  since  the  liquified  earth 
solidified  into  its  present  form.     The  commonly  called 
Mosaic  account  informs  us  that,  six  days  after  the  earth's 
formation,  Adam,  the  highest  type  of  civihzed  man,  ap- 
peared upon  its  surface,  formed  of  red  eartli,  God  having 
breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life ;    suddenly 
filled  with  all  wisdom,  lie  found  himself  in  the  midst  of 
the  beautiful  paradise  of  Eden  ;  and  that  he  would  have 
remained  immortal  had  he  not,  tempted  by  the  devil,  in 
the  form  of  a  serpent,  and  at  the  solicitation  of  a  beauti- 
ful woman,  in  a  rash  moment,  eaten  of  tlie  fruit  of  a  tree 
which  his  God  liad  expressly  forbidden  him  to  taste. 
That  in  the  same  garden  grew  another  wondrous  tree, 
called  the  tree  of  life;  that  his  Omniscient  Creator  wisely 
provided  against  the  possibility  of  Adam's  eating  of  this 
tree,  and  so  living  forever,  by  placing  on  guard  over  it  an 
angel  with  a  flaming  sword ;  and  finally,  after  giving  the 
creature  he  formed  some  excellent  advice  as  to  in  future 
eating  his  bread  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  expelled  him 


IG  I'heology  and  Mythology. 

from  the  garden.  Science  and  human  tradition  teach 
tliat  man  has  been  on  tliis  eartli  at  least  six  tliousand 
years  twenty  times  told  ;  that  at  first  he  was  by  no  means 
a  civilized  being,  and  is  not  quite  so  even  yet ;  that  lie 
was  little  distin<xuished  in  wisdom  from  the  savao;e  ani- 
mals  with  whom  he  had  to  contend  for  existence  ;  that 
his  civilization,  such  as  it  is,  has  not  been  divinely  com- 
municated, but  lias  been  the  product  of  the  slow  accre- 
tions of  knowledge,  by  painful  experience,  through  count- 
less ages  of  failures,  sufferings  and  trials.  ■  The  Bible 
teaches  that  physical  death  was  the  consequence  of 
Adam's  transgression.  Pceleontological  science  demon- 
strates, beyond  the  possibilit}''  of  doubt,  that  death  existed, 
on  earth  and  was  a  law  of  animal  nature  countless  ac^es 
anterior  to  man's  advent.  Here,  then,  at  the  very  out- 
let, are  conflict  and  contradiction. 

As  before  remarked,  men  of  science  do  not  diverge 
from  the  path  of  investigation  to  refute  some  biblical 
statement ;  3'et  it  is  apparent  that  the  acceptance  given 
to  certain  scientific  deductions  must  lead  to  the  virtual 
if  not  open  rejection  of  conflicting  scriptural  doctrines. 
It  is  a  fact  that  scientific  knowledge  is  growing  more 
popular,  while  the  faith  given  to  miraculous  narratives 
and  unintelligible  doctrines  has"  lost  its  pristine  zeal  and 
strengtli.  The  untrammcled  spirit  of  free  inquiry  lias 
made  its  impress  felt  even  in  the  most  conservative  of 
churches.  No  "Catholic  ecclesiastic  would  have  tlie  te- 
merity, at  the  present  day,  to  defend  the  brutal  cruelty 
of  the  Inquisition  that  incarcerated  Galileo  for  demon- 
strating the  truth  of  the  heliocentric  theory.  And,  as  is 
natural  to  expect',  greater  moderation  has  characterized 
the  tone  of  the  Protestant  churches.     Men  of  latitudina- 


Theology  and  Ilyihology.  IT 

riaii  views  may,  provided  they  do  not  take  especial  pains 
to  make  the -profession  of  them  particularly 'conspicuous, 
find  membership  and  fellowship  in  all  the  churches.  In 
the  older  universities,  and  previous  to  admission  to  orders 
in  the  Episcopal  and  other  churches,  theological  iron- 
clad oaths  are  still  administered;  but,  from  the  vigorous 
skepticism  found  in  the  churches,  it  would  seem  that  the 
assumption  of  such  offers  but  a  slight  barrier  to  the  ad- 
vance of  free  inquiry.  Dr.  Snyder,  of  the  Church  of  tlie 
Messiah,  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  thus  replies  to  a  fellow- 
preacher  who  had  condemned  him  for  delivering  a  popu- 
lar lecture  on  Sunday :...."  My  dear  sir,  you  will 
find  the  religious  indifference  of  the  masses  lies  deeper 
than  any  cause  which  tlie  orthodox  cluirch  would  be 
likely  to  assign.  Tlicy  dislike  the  Clmrch  because  she 
has  been  the  consistent  foe  of  scientific  truth  ;  because  it 
lias  denied  salvation  to  a  pure  morality  divorced  from  an 
orthodox  belief;  because  it  has  taken  no  intelligent  and 
impartial  part  in  the  discussion  of  the  great  social  and 
economic  questions  whose  solution  will  harmonize  the 
demands  of  labor  and  capital ;  because  she  stands  apart 
and  flings  the  epithets  of  'socialist'  and  'communist' 
upon  such  men  as  Charles  Bradlaugh  and  John  Stuart 
Mill ;  because  the  system  of  human  bondage  had  entered 
BO  vitally  into  the  essential  life  of  the  Church  that  several 
important  denominations  of  Christians  are  still  in  violent 
discussion  about  the  vanishing  ghost  of  a  political  ques- 
tion which  even  politicians  have  buried  out  of  sight.  I 
can  see,  of  course,  that  the  pipes  are  being  skillfully  laid 
for  an  evangelical  revival  during  the  winter :  you,  dear 
sir,  and  other  prominent  orthodox  ministers  of  the  city, 
have  or  may  have  the  management  and  direction  of  this 


18  Theologrj  and  Mythology. 

expected  -awnkening  of  religious  fervor.  I  can  scarcely 
overestimate  the  good  effects  of  such  a  revival,  if  you, 
gentlemen,  will  but  turn  your  vast  power  into  the  riglit 
channel.  Suppose  you  try  an  experiment  entirely  new 
in  the  tactics  of  revivals.  Drop  the  preaching  of  a 
heaven  wliich  every  unselfish  man  must  despise,  a  hell 
which  every  brave  man  will  scorn.  Leave  out  of  sight 
the  conimon  vicarious  form  of  the  doctrine  of  the  atone- 
ment. Preach  the  simple  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  a 
religion  without  mystiliaation,  a  religion  without  creeds, 
whose  essence  is  natural  morality,  whose  manifestation  in 
the  Man  of  Nazareth  was  unbounded  charity.  Preacli 
such  a  faith  as  this,  a  faith  that  makes  Christianity  and 
personal  righteousness  synonymous ;  withdraw  all  theo- 
logical opprobrium  from  those  who  are  striving  to  preach 
the  simple  faith  to-day,  and  you  may  live  to  see  the  time 
when  it  shall  be  said  of  the  church  as  it  was  said  of  the 
Divine  Master,  The  common  people  heard  gladly." 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  orthodox  churches,  for  the  truth  of  every  doc- 
trine they  teach,  repose  and  rely  upon  statements  made 
by  several  Jewish  writers,  at  widely  different  epochs  of 
time,  and  embodied  in  a  single  book  called  the  Bible. 
They  claim  for  these  writings  a  divine  origin.  They 
assert  that  the  several  writers  were  directly  and  immedi- 
ately inspired  by  the  Omnipotent  Creator  of  the  Universe 
to  make  these  communications  to  humanity ;  that  the 
writers  themselves  were  passive,  human  vessels  and  me- 
dia, through  which  the  divine  knowledge  flowed.  The 
oldest  of  these  inspired  works  are  the  Pentateuch  and 
historical  and  poetical  works  forming  the  remainder  of 
the  Jewish  writings.  The  latest  are  the  gospels  and 
epistles  of  the  disciples  and  followers  of  Jesus.  Tiie 
older  collection  of  writings  ends  with  Malachi,  who,  it  is 
presumed,  wrote  some  four  hundred  years  before  tho 
birth  of  Christ.  The  book  of  Genesis,  the  first  of  the 
Pentateuch,  contains  an  account  of  the  creation  of  the 
sun,  moon  and  stars,  the  earth  and  animal  and  vegetable 
life,  and  skims  over  the  history  of  the  world  to  the  period 
of  the  descent  of  the  Israelites  to  Egypt.     In  the  first 


20-  Theology  and  Mythology. 

four  chapters  wo  are  presented  with  an  account  of  the 
creation  of  man,  his  fidl  and  expulsion  from  the  paradise 
of  Eden,  the  destruction  of  the  new  world  by  a  deluge, 
the  confusion  of  tongues  at  the  building  of  the  tower  of 
Babel,  and  the  consequent  formation  of  diverse  languages 
and  the  dispersion  of  mankind.  The  four  remaining 
books  of  tlie  Pentateuch  are  occupied  with  the  relation 
of  the  miracnlous  interposition  of  God,  exercised  on  be- 
half of  the  Israelites,  and  a  minute  detail  of  their  cere- 
monial worship,  and  close  with  the  entrance  of  the  Jews 
into  the  promised  land  of  Canaan.  The  remaining  sa- 
cred writings  are  of  a  historical,  prophetical  and  lyrical 
character.  Of  the  latter  kind  may  be  reckoned  the  Song 
of  Solomon,  the  Psalms  of  David  and  the  book  of  Job, 
the  latter  one  of  the  oldest  as  well  as  the  grandest  of  epic 
poems.  Its  "inspiration"  has  never  been  doubted.  The 
book  of  Proverbs  is  a  collection  of  philosophical  proverbs, 
and  is  undoubtedly  the  best  work  of  the  kind  ever 
written. 

The  greater  number  of  tliese  works  contain  accounts 
of  miraculous  events,  which,  were  they  found  in  any 
other  work  not  considered  inspired,  would  only  excite 
the  astonishment  and  contempt  of  every  reasonable  and 
reasoning  human  being.  Had  Hesiod  given  us  the  Mo- 
saic Cosmogony  in  sober  earnestness,  and  not  as  a  fable, 
we  would  have  pitied  his  mental  condition.  Herodotus, 
though  garrulous  to  a  degree,  and  fond  of  relating  old 
stories  he  had  heard  from  Egyptian  prie'sts,  would  un- 
doubtedly have  staggered  at  the  story  of  Balaam's  ass 
answering  his  irascible  master's  complaint  in  choice 
Syriac.  Had  Homer  represented  Chalcas  as  turning 
rods,  in  his  leisure  moments,  into  snalces  that  swallowed 


Theology  and  Mythology.  21 

Trojan  reptiles,  called  into  existence  by  the  magic  wand 
of  the  raving  Cassandra,  he  would  -have  added  nothing 
to  his  reputation  as  a  poet.  The  adventures  of  Sinbad 
the  Sailor  present  nothing  at  all  comparable  in  aquatic 
prodigies  to  the  three  days'  navigation  of  Jonah  in  the 
interior  of  a  whale.  Yet  it  would  be  difficult  to  assign 
any  cogent  reason  why  the  supernatural  stories  of  the 
Jewish  narrative  should  be  received  with  unquestioning 
faith,  and  everything  of  a  similar  character  instantly  and 
indignantly  rejected  if  found  narrated  elsewhere. 

No  claim  is  iiiade  by  the  writer  or  writers  or  com- 
pilers of  the  Pentateuch  to  inspiration.  None  of  the 
older  Hebrew  writers  claim  it.  This  most  extravagant 
and  unreasonable  doctrine  of  inspiration — this  claim  that 
God  Almighty  wrote  Jewish  history,  poetry,  fable  and 
rom.ance — was  never  pretended,  never  thought  of,  never 
admitted,  until  long  after  the  institution  of  Christianity. 
Then  it  was  that  priests,  being  unable-  to  defend  their 
reli2:ion  against  the  assaults  of  reason,  with  sublime  au- 
dacity  invented  the  doctrine  of  Inspiration.  They  stum- 
bled upon  a  solitary  and  accidental  expression  of  a  New- 
Testament  writer,  that  "  all  scripture  is  given  by  inspir- 
ation of  God,"  and  upon  it  they  built  the  most  gigantic 
Dretense  the  world  has  ever  known.  It  hilled  all  argu- 
ment,  and  silenced  for  centuries  the  voice  of  reason  and 
conscience.  That  such  a  pretense  was  utterly  unknown 
to  the  gospel  writers  we  have  the  admission  of  Luke 
(i,  1-4):  "Forasmuch  as  many  have  taken  in  hand  to 
set  forth  in  order  those  things  that  are  most  assuredly 
believed  among  us,  it  seemed  good  to  me  also,  having 
had  perfect  understanding  from  the  beginning,  to  write 
unto  thee  in  order,  most  excellent  Theophilus."     There 


22  Theology  and  Mythology. 

is  no  inspiration  claimed  here  by  the  only  gospel  writer 
who  possessed  any  education,  and  who  properly  prefaces 
his  narrative  with  an  allusion  to  the  ordinary  sources  of 
his  information.  They  who  claim  for  the  Hebrew  scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  a  divine  and  miracu- 
lous origin  place  themselves  in  direct  antagonism  both 
to  scientific  teaching  and  the  enlightened  spirit  of  the 
present  century.  Between  what  they  term  "  infidelity" 
aud  unquestioning  credulity  they  leave  men  of  liberal 
views  no  alternative.  The  modern  Christian,  if  in  accord 
with  the  Church's  teaching,  must  believe,  among  a  bewil- 
dering maze  of  contradictions,  that  the  Spirit  of  Evil,  as 
a  serpent,  beguiled  the  parents  of  the  human  race,  one  of 
the  consequences  of  which  was  physical  death.  He 
must  believe  that,  contrary  to  the  law  of  nature,  the  wa- 
ters of  the  Ked  Sea  were  miraculously  divided  ;  that  the 
water  stood  up  like  two  raised  walls  while  the  Jews 
passed  through.  He  must  believe  that  for  fortj'  years 
a  cloud  by  day  and  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night  guided  this 
people  through  their  wanderings  in  the  wilderness  a  dis- 
tance that  mischt  be  traversed  in  three  weeks  ;  lie  must 
also  believe  that  this  people  were  miraculously  sustained 
by  bread  from  heaven  while  in  the  wilderness.  He 
must  believe  that  at  the  request  of  Joshua — a  military 
leader  of  this  people  who  needed  more  time  to  com- 
plete the  slaughter  of  the  Araalekites,  bravely  defending 
their  native  land  against  marauding  invaders — the  sun 
stood  still  in  the  heavens,  and  "  the  moon  hasted  not  to 
go  down  for  the  space  of  a  whole  day,"  while  God  from 
heaven  rained  down  great  stones  upon  the  flying  enemy, 
who  were  as  much  his  creatures  and  children  as  the  Jews. 
He  nmst  believe  that  when  the  feet  of  the  Jewish  priests 


Theology  and  Mythology.  23 

touched  tlic  river  Jordan  the  waters  of  the  affrighted 
Jordan  flowed  oflT,  while  the  flood  coming  down,  contrary 
to  the  best  known  law  of  nature,  "  stood  up  in  a  heap." 
He  must  believe  that  at  the  blowing  of  rams'  horns  by 
the  priests,  the  walls  of  a  fortified  city  fell  flat.  He  must 
believe  that  the  Creator  of  the  Universe  repeatedl}''  as- 
sumed human  form  and  conversed  familiarly  with  men  ; 
that  God  spoke  from  a  burning  bush  ;•  that  the  angel  of 
the  Lord  spoke  through  Balaam's  ass.  He. must  believe 
that  the  most  atrocious  crimes  were  daily  committed  at 
the  instiiration  or  with  the  direct  sanction  of  the  Lord  of 
Eternal  Right. 

At  the  capture  of  Jericho  (Joshua  vii)  a  Jew  stole 
some  gold  and  silver  and  a  goodly  Babylonish  garment ; 
he  took  it,  in  all  probability,  as  a  soldier  would  his  booty, 
the  spoil  of  his  spear  and  bow.  In  consequence  of  tliis 
transgression  on  the  part  of  an  obscure  individual,  the 
anger  of  the  Almighty  was  excited,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
the  Jews  were  defeated  in  their  next  military  expedition, 
which  was  an  attack  upon  the  town  of  Ai.  Joshua,  guid- 
ed by  divine  wisdom,  selected  l>y  lot  the  offender.  As 
a  punishment,  he  was  stoned  to  death ;  and  not  only  he, 
but  his  wife  and  innocent  children,  and  his  dumb  cattle  I 
Sisera,  the  captain  of  the  host  of  Jabin,  the  Assyrian,  fly- 
ins:  from  his  enemies,  was  invited  to  the  shelter  of  her 
tent  by  "  Jael,  the  wife  of  Hebcr  the  Kenite"  :  when  he 
was  fast  asleep  she  smote  with  a  hammer  a  nail  into  his 
temples  and  murdered  him.  For  this,  the  language  of 
inspiration  calls  her  "  blessed  above  women  in  the  tent" ! 
Saul,  the  first  king  of  Israel,  being  commanded  by  tlio 
Lord  to  "  go  and  smite  Amalek,  and  utterly  destroy  all 
that  they  have,  and  spare  them  not,  but  slay  both  man 


24:  Theology  and  Mythology. 

and  Vv'oman,  infant  and  stickling,  oxen  and  sheep,"  only 
l)artially  executed  the  mhuman  order  :  he  spared  the  best 
of  the  cattle,  and  captured  Agag.  For  this  he  was  de- 
nounced by  the  prophet  of  God,  and  sentence  of  deposi- 
tion pronounced  against  him.  The  defenseless  captive 
■vvas  brought  before  the  man  of  God.  The  record  says : 
"  Then  said  Samuel,  Bring  me  hither  Agag,  king  of  the 
Amalekites.  And  Agag  came  unto  him  delicately ;  and 
Agag  said.  Surely  the  bitterness  of  death  is  past !  And 
Samuel  hewed  Agag  in  pieces  before  the  Lord  in  Gilgal." 
Were  this  event  recorded  in  profane  history  would  not 
the  voice  of  humanity  be  raised  for  the  slaughtered  cap- 
tive king,  and  protest  against  the  red  butchery  inflicted 
by  the  savage  prophet  ?  Shall  we,  through  feelings  of 
false  delicacy  and  respect  for  a  doctrine  of  inspiration 
that  oucrht  lono;  since  to  have  been  abandoned,  cease  to 
entertain  any  sense  of  right  and  wrong  ?  Shall  we, 
against  the  voice  of  conscience  and  the  light  of  reason, 
believe  that  the  eternal  and 'changeless  laws  of  nature 
were,  on  the  most  trivial  occasions,  capriciously  violated, 
and  that  the  no  less  eternal  moral  laws  were  outraged,  bv 
the  interference  and  express  sanction  of  the  Omnipotent 
Creator?  Is  it  not  far  grosser  infidelity  to  entertain 
such  debasing  conceptions  of  the-  Deity  than  to  deny  the 
existence  of  such  a  God  ?  The  Hebrevr  scriptures  con- 
tain narratives  of  many  alleged  events  that  shock  the 
universal  instincts  of  liumanity  and  outrage  the  primary 
principles  of  justice  and  morality.  Do  wc  detract  from 
the  divine  character  by  refusing  to  ascribe  to  it  attributes 
and  passions  that  would  stain  the  reputation  of  any  single 
great  man  M'hose  name  history  has  preserved  ?  Is  it  not 
more  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  Jewish  rulers,  priests 


Theology  and  Ifi/thology.  25 

and  prophets  songlit  palliation  for  national  and  individual 
crimes,  by  falsely  claiming  divine  direction  and  counte- 
nance, than  to  imagine  that  a  being  possessing  the  attri- 
butes ascribed  to  Supreme  Excellence  would  reveal  him- 
self to  us  in  a  character  utterly  at  variance  with  the 
conceptions  of  our  moral  and  intellectual  development  ? 
The  Cliurch,  by  persisting  in  maintaining  the  untenable 
doctrine  of  biblical  inspiration,  is  directly  responsible  for 
the  growth  of  modern  '"infidelity."  Infidelity  is  the  re- 
volt of  the  intellect  of  humanity  against  the  state  of 
abject  submission  and  mental  slavery  that  "revelation" 
requires  as  a  condition  precedent  to  its  reception. 


CHxVPTER  III. 

The  Founder  of  Christianity  was  wiser  as  well  as 
nobler  than  his  followers.  On  every  occasion,  public 
and  private,  that  we  have  any  record  of,  he  ignored  and 
disparaged  both  Jewish  theology  and  the  Mosaic  ceremo- 
nial laws  and  observances.  This  he  would  never  have 
attempted  did  he  believe  that  the  old  Hebrew  scriptures 
were  divinely  inspired  and  dictated  by  the  unchanging 
God  of  the  Universe,  who  cannot  have  one  policy  for  to- 
day and  a  different  one  for  to-morrow ;  one  code  of 
moralitv  and  reli2;ious  teaching  for  the  Jews  and  another 
for  the  Greeks.  Jesus  better  than  his  cotemporaries 
understood  the  spirit  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived.  Had 
belief  in  the  inspiration  of  the  Mosaic  writings  been  a 
part  of  the  national  faith,  he  never  would  have  shocked 
the  popular  conscience  by  indirectly  attacking  the  relig- 
ious system  supposed  to  have  the  sanction  of  the  great 
authority  of  Moses.  His  almost  constant  mode  of  begin- 
ning a  public  address  was,  "  Ye  have  heard  it  said  in  tlie 
old  time"  :  which,  so  far  from  recognizing  the  theory  ot 
inspiration,  does  not  even  offer  to  treat  with  any  degree 
of  respect   the   ancient   fables   and  superstitions  of  tlie 


*  Tkcol'Xjy  and  Mijtholocjy.  '27 

people.  lie  proclaimed  for  himself  and  his  followers 
complete  independence  of  Mosaic  ordinances,  ceremonies 
and  observances.  lie  justified,  by  bold  appeals  to  reason 
and  common  sense,  his  repeated  violations  of  the  pre- 
sumed sanctity  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath.  He  asserted  the 
supremacy  of  individual  liberty  over  Mosaic  slavery.  He 
dignified  humanity  by  the  bold  assertion  that  the  Son  of 
man  -was  even  Lord  of  the  Sabbath !  leaving  the  awak- 
ened intelligence  of  the  people  to  draw  the  plain  infer- 
ence that  the  Sabbath  and  other  Mosaic  institutions  were 
of  human  origin  ;  for  had  they  been  of  divine  ordination 
they  could  never  have  been  abrogated. 

Similarl}^  did  the  great  lleformer  condemn  the  laxity 
and  cruelty  of  the  Mosaic  divine  law.  Under  the  Jcwisli 
ecclesiastical  system,  when  a  man  desired  to  part  with 
]iis  wife  he  was  only  required  to  give  her  a  written  bill  of 
divorcement  drawn  up  by  himself.  This,  doubtless,  was 
an  extremely  expeditious  and  inexpensive  method  of  get- 
ting rid  of  an  unpleasant  v»-ife ;  surpassing  even  some 
modern  legislation  on  this  important  subject ;  but  the 
justice  of  Jesus  denounced  this  infamous  law  wliich  left 
the  good  name  and  happiness  of  the  woman  dependent 
on  the  caprice  of  a  brutal  master!  In  the  teeth  of  the 
sanction  of  the  name  of  Moses  and  the  whole  Jewish 
ecclesiastical  system,  the  grand  lover  of  liberty  and  jus- 
tice proclaimed  that  vvhoever  put  away  his  wife  except 
for  marital  infidelity  was  guilty  of  a  grave  crime.  So 
little  regard  did  Jesus  pay  to  the  reputed  sanctity  of  Old- 
Testament  worthies  that  ho  even  endangered  his  life  by 
abruptly  shocking  the  feeling  of  reverence  witli  which 
Abraham  Vvas  regarded,  when  using  the  strong,  and,  to 
the    Jewish    iutejicct,    the    incomprehensible,    lignre    of 


28  Theol()(ju  and  Myihologij. 

ppeecli,  "Before  Abraham  was,  I  am.''  lie  asserted  the 
superiority  of  the  larger  liberty  of  whicli  lie  was  the  ex- 
ponent to  the  narrower  creed  of  an  exclusive  race.  Hu- 
manity was  greater  than  Judaism,  as  Jesus  of  Nazaretli 
was  superior  to  Abraham. 

According  to  the  Mosaic  account,  the  Creator  of  the 
Universe  rf^piired  that  every  male  infant  of  the  "  pecu- 
liar" people  slionld  be  subjected  to  a  certain  pliysical 
operation.  This  was  an  "everlasting  covenant"  estab- 
lished between  God  and  his  people.  We  find  that,  when 
the  Christian  religion  began  to  assume  some  proportions 
and  strength,  this  "  divinely  "  appointed  ordinance  was 
allowed  to  fall  into  disuse.  Had  the  infant  Church  of 
Cln-ist  regarded  the  Mosaic  books  divinely  inspired 
would  it  have  dared  to  disregard  an  institution  appointed 
by  God  himself  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  and  substi- 
tute for  it  the  painless  rite  of  baptism,  that  had  received 
no  divine  sanction,  and  was  totally  unknown  to  the  "  in- 
spired" writers  of  the  Old  Testament  ?  By  wluit  authority 
liave  tlie  Christians  of  the  present  day,  who  hold  all 
scripture  to  be  inspired,  forsaken  the  observance  of  the 
last  day  of  tlie  week  as  a  Sabbath  instituted  by  God  liim-^ 
self,  if  the  Bible  be  true,  and  substituted  for  it  tlic  easy 
observance  of  the  first  day  ? 

Never  did  the  Christian  Church  commit  a  graver 
mistake  than  wlicn  it  undertook  to  carry  the  dead  weiglit 
of  the  doctrin"o  of  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures. 

We  are  not,  liowcver,  without  presumptive  evidence 
of  the  highest  character  tending  to  establish  that  not  only 
has  the  Pentateuch  no  valid  claims  to  "  ins[)iration,"  but 
that  it  was  not  the  composition  oven  of  Moses;  that  its 


Thcoloay  and  ^LijtlioUxjy.  29 

inspiration  was  never  lield  bj  the  Jewish  pco])k>,  hut  was 
an  aftcrthouglit  of  the  zeak)us  Christian  Fathers  of  tlic 
seeontl  or  third  century,  whose  opinion  on  the  snl)jcct  is 
of  as  little  importance  to  the  world  to-day  as  the  proceed- 
ings of  an  ecumenical  council  or  a  pan-anglican  meeting 
of  Protestant  bishops,  called  together  to  fix  up  some  dis- 
puted church  dogma.  The  Eible  must  he  subjected  to 
the  same  scrntiny  and  criticism  that  would  be  applied  to 
any  other  work  of  antiquity.  ]N"ot  only  so,  but  the  Bibl5, 
in  consequence  of  the  extravagant  claims  put  forth  on  its 
!)ehalf,  sliould  \)Q,  subjected  to  greater  severity  of  exam- 
ination tlian  any  "profane"  work.  For,  if  it  be  all  tliat 
is  claimed  for  it,  it  must  be  accepted  by  mankind  not 
only  as  an  unerring  text-book  of  cosmical  science,  tlic 
arbiter  of  right  and  wrong,  the  foundation  of  all  law,  but 
tlie  exposition  of  the  Divine  Mind  in  all  that  concerns  tlio 
eternal  destiny  of  our  race. 

Ezra,  or  Esdras,  v/liom  biblical  clironoloirv  assumes  to 
liave  lived  450  B.  C,  tells  us  that  in  his  time  the  law  of 
Moses  ]iad  been  burned,  and  tluit  he  rc-wrote  it.  His 
account  of  tlie  circumstance  is  so  quaintly  written  that 
we  quote  his  language  :  "And  it  came  to  pass,  npon  the 
tliird  day,  I  sat  under  an  oak,  and,  behold,  there  (^atne  a 
voice  out  of  a  bush  over  .igainst  mc,  and  said,  Esdras  ! 
Esdras  !  And  I  said.  Here  I  am.  Lord  !  And  I  stood  u])- 
upon  n^.y  feet.  Then  said  he  unto  mc :  In  tlic  bush  I 
did  manifestly  revc;d  myself  r.nto  Moses,  and  talked  v/ith 
him  when  my  people  served  in  Egypt;  aiul  I  sent  liim 
and  led  liim  np  unto  tlie  mount  Sinai,  wliere  I  held  him 
a  long  season,  ajid  told  him  many  wondrous  things,  and 
shewed  him  tlie  secrets  of  tlic  times,  and  tlic  end,  and 
commanded  him,  saying,  Tliesc  words  shalt  tliou  declare, 


30  Theology  and  Mythology. 

;iiul  these  shalt  tliou  hide.  And. now  I  suy  unto  tlice, 
that  thou  Lij  up  in  thy  heart  the  signs  that  I  liave 
shewed,  and  the  dreams  that  thou  hast  seen,  and  the  in- 
terpretation that  tliou  hast  licard.  For  thou  shalt  be 
taken  aAvay  from  all  that  remain,  and  from  henceforth 
thou  shalt  remain  with  my  Son,  and  with  such  as  be  like 
unto  thee,  until  the  times  be  ended.  For  the  world  hath 
lost  its  youth,  and  the  times  begin  to  wax  old.  For  the 
world  is  divided  into  twelve  parts,  and  the  ten  parts  of  it 
are  gone  already  and  a  half  of  a  tenth  part,  and  tliere 
rcmaineth  that  which  is  after  the  tenth  part.  Now, 
therefore,  set  thy  house  in  order,  and  reprove  the  people, 
and  comfort  such  of  them  as  be  in  trouble  and  now  re- 
nounce corruption.  Let  go  from  these  mortal  thoughts; 
cast  away  the  burden  of  num ;  put  off  now  the  Aveak  na- 
ture, and  set  aside  the  thoughts  that  are  most  heavy  to 
thee,  and  haste  thee  to  flee  from  these  times :  for  yet 
greater  evils  than  thou  hast  seen  happen  shall  be  done 
hereafter.  For  look,  how  mucli  the  world  shall  be 
weaker  tlirouo-h  ao;e,  so  mucli  the  more  shall  evils  in- 
crease  upon  them  that  dwell  therein.  .For  truth  is  fled 
away  and  leasing  is  hard  at  hand  ;  for  now  hastetli  the 
vision  to  come  which  thou  hast  seen.  Then  answered  I 
before  thee,  and  said  :  Behold,  Lord,  I  will  go  as  thou 
hast  commanded  me,  and  reprove  the  people  that  are 
present;  but  they  that  shall  be  born  afterward,  wlio shall 
admonish  them  ?  For  thy  laio  is  b^irnt ;  and  no  man 
knowcth  the  thino-s  tliat  are  done  of  thee  or  the  works 
that  shall  begin."  Further  on,  Esdras  informs  us  that  he 
associated  with  himself,  in  the  work  of  writing  the  law, 
Larea,  Dabria,  Selemia,  Ecanus  and  Asiel,  ''  five  ready 
to  write  swiftly."'     Es(h";!S  furtjicr  intbrms  us  that  a  cup 


1 


TheolGgu  and  Jrytholofji/.  ?,V 

was  iiuriieulor.sly  liiuuled  liiiii,  '*  full  us  it  were  of  water, 
but  tlio  color  like  fire";  that  lie  and  his  companions  sat 
forty  days,  and  he  in  that  time  dictated  four  hundred 
and  four  books,  which  his  companions  committed  to 
Avritir.g.  Of  course,  it  will  be  said  tliat  the  Protestant 
churches  do  not  consider  the  book  of  Esdras  canonical, 
or  inspired.  In  point  of  composition  and  for  profundity 
of  thought  the  book  of  Esdras  is  far  superior  to  many 
books  of  the  Old  Testament,  while  its  miraculous  narra- 
tives are  not  more  extravagant  or  outrageous  than  many 
recorded  in  the  "inspired"  works.  There  is  no  valid 
reason  for  its  rejection.  AVho,  in  sober  truth,  are  the 
judges  of  this  great  Inspirational  Court  of  Claims  ?  Arc 
they  the  men  who  wrote  the  works,  the  people  to  whom 
they  were  addressed,  or  the  ignorant  CIn-istians  who 
l^assed  upon  their  merits  long  after  they  were  written  ? 
It  was  generally  held  in  the  second  century — if  any  con- 
sequence be  attached  to  the  opinion  of  zealous  and 
prejudiced  churchmen — that  Esdras  was  the  author  of 
"  the  first  five  books  of  Moses."  St.  Jerome  says  :  "  Siva 
Moseni  dicere  volueres  auctorem  Pejitateuchi,  sivs  Es- 
dram  ejusdaon  instanratorem  operis  non  recusoP  In 
otlier  words :  whether  Esdras  or  Moses  was  the  author 
of  tlie  Pentateuch,  liis  saintsliip  was  not  prepared  to 
dc  ci.de. 

Tb,ere  are,  besides,  internal  evidences  that  the  Penta- 
teuch was  not  written  by  Moses.  In  the  greater  portion 
of  the  work  he  is  tlic  central  figure,  and,  were  he  the 
author,  he  wt)uld  naturally,  in  speaking  of  himself,  have 
iallcn  into  the  use  of  the  first  instead  of  tlie  third  person; 
and  ho  certainly  could  not  have  written  the  account  of 
his  own  death.    It  is  highly  probable  that  the  Pentateuch 


32  Theology  and  Jnjtholoyij. 

v.-:a3  not  tlic  v.'ork  of  one  liand.  The  ditieronco  in  tlie 
stj'lo  of  the  writings  lias  long  been  recognized  by  bibli- 
cal scholars.  The  two  different  styles  have  been  denom- 
inated the  Elohistic  and  Jehovistic,  froiit  the  employment 
of  the  primary  roots  of  these  words  as  appellations  of  the 
Deity.  The  older  Hebrew  manuscripts  do  not  ascribe 
them  to  Moses ;  nor  are  they  called  the  "  Books  of  Mo- 
ses" either  in  the  Septuagint  or  in  the  Yulgate.  Clem- 
ens Alexandrinns  and  Ireneeus  both  assert  that  the 
original  Pentateuch  was  destroyed  in  the  captivity  under 
Nebuchadnezzar,  and  that  Esdras  was  divinely  inspired 
to  re-write  them. 

The  first  ten  chapters  of  Genesis  are  devoted  to  the 
general  history  of  mankind,  occupying  about  enough 
space  to  fill  one  column  of  an  ordinary  daily  newspaper. 
The  remaining  portion  of  the  five  books  is  mainly  occu- 
pied with  the  miraculous  history  of  the  Jews.  At  the 
very  outset  of  tlie  inquiry  it  might  be  asked  whether  it 
is  probable  that  such  a  narrative  as  we  have  presented 
us  in  these  five  books  required  or  received  the  inspira- 
tion and  supervision  of  the  Creator  of  the  Universe. 
AVebster's  definition  of  Revelation  is  substantially  accii- 
ratc :  "  The  act  of  disclosing  to  others  what  was  before 
unknown  to  them  ;  apxjrojyr lately^  the  disclosure  or  com- 
munication of  the  truth  to  men  l)y  God  himself,  or  by  his 
authorized  agejits,  the  prophets  and  apostles ;  ajypi^ojyrl- 
ately,  the  sacred  truth  whicli  God  'has  communicated  to 
man  for  his  instruction  and  guidance."  The  essence, 
then,  of  a  revelation  must  be,  first,  its  absolute  truth  ; 
second,  its  divine  origin;  and  tliird,its  communication  by 
God  cither  mediately  or  immediately.  If  it  lack  any  of 
these   essential   qualifications   it  is  no  revelation,  in  the 


Theology  and  Mythology.  33 

biblical  and  cxtruordinaiy  sense  of  tlio  word,  Sbonld 
tlie  Mosaic,  as  it  is  commonl)''  called,  account  of  the  cre- 
ation, found  in  the  book  of  Genesis,  assert  that  death 
was  the  consequence  of  man's  transgression,  and  had 
science  unerringly  demonstrated  the  contrary ;  were 
there,  for  example,  found  traces  of  the  fact  of  animal 
death  on  this  planet  long  anterior  to  the  advent  of  man — 
then  the  former  statement  would  not  be  "Revelation.'' 
Should  the  author  of  Genesis  assert  that  the  time  occu- 
pied in  the  transformation  of  the  earth  from  chaos  to  a 
habitable  condition  was  only  six  daj^s  ;  and  should  geol- 
ogy unerringly  demonstrate  that  countless  ages,  embrac- 
ing millions  of  3-ears,  elapsed  and  passed  into  the  night 
of  time  while  this  planet  was  subjected  to  the  mighty 
processes  of  nature  that  converted  it  from  a  burning  mass 
that  could  tolerate  life  in  no  form  into  a  verdure-clad 
earth,  teeming  with  vegetable,  marine  and  animal  life  of 
diversified  forms — then,  surely,  no  confidence  should  be 
reposed  in  the  statement  of  the  unscientific  narrator  of 
])hysical  impossibilities,  no  matter  how  just  his  preten- 
sions. Should  "  Revelation  "  assert  tiiat  within  about 
two  tliousand  years  after  man's  creation  this  solid  globe 
was  totally  covered  with  water,  severrJ  feet  high  above 
the  Iiighest  mountain  tops  ;  and  science  had  pro- 
nounced this  an  impossibility,  or,  even  admitting  that  it 
were  possible,  had  still  shown  that,  owing  to  the  Avell- 
ascertained  laws  of  nature,  this  immense  volume  of  water 
asserted  to  have  enveloped  tlic  earth  nnist  have  continued 
to  do  so  for  countless  ages — w^ould  we  not,  as  reasonable 
beings,  be  forced  to  the  conclusion  tliat  "  Revelation"  in 
this  case  had  wandered  into  the  field  of  f  ible  ?  A<»-ain  : 
should  tliis presumed"'  Re\-olati<>n'' inform  ir^  tliat,  just  pre- 


'A-i  Theology  and  jSryt.lwUxjy. 

vions  to  the  advent  of  tliis  all-enveloping  delnge,  eight 
lunnan  beings,  together  Avith  ii  single  pair  of  the  animals 
denominated,  for  want  of  a  better  classification,  "  un- 
clean,"'  and  seven  pairs  of  all  other  known  animals,  had 
entered  into  a  rectangular  floating  ark,  whose  exact  di- 
mensions were  given,  and  remained  shut  up  in  it  for 
nine  months ;  and  science  liad  demonstrated  that  it 
was  simply  impossible,  from  the  dimensions  of  the  vessel, 
as  given,  that  it  could  have  afforded  space  for  its  varie- 
gated occupants,  not  to  mention  many  other  impossibili- 
ties connected  with  the  transaction- — should  the  teachinac 
of  science  and  the  conclusions  of  reason  and  intelligence 
be  stultified  fur  lack  of  correspondence  with  the  preten- 
sions of  "  Kevelation  "'  ?  Contradictions  of  this  kind 
might  be  almost  endlessly  multiplied  were  it  not  a  waste 
of  time  and  employment.  Had  not  the  Church  for  ages 
obstinately,  foolishly  and  blindly  committed  itself  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Hebrew  fables,  wc 
shonld  attach  now  no  more  importance  to  the  Assyrian 
stor}^  of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  the  Fall  of  Man,  and  the 
Deluge,  than  we  do  to  the  beautiful  Greek  myth  of  Diie- 
calion  and  Pyrrha  ;  and  instead  of  connecting  a  vast  re- 
ligious system  with  a  legend  whose  ver}'  authorship  is 
urdcnown,  the  world  would  have  gladly  welcomed  and 
prized  it  as  a  graceful  contribution  to  the  volume  of 
beautiful  song  and  story,  gathej-ed  from  all  lands,  that 
has  floated  down  on  the  mist  of  time  from  the  barbaric 
days  cf  the  infancy  of  the  world.  Inspiration  is  a  secret 
communication  made  in  visions,  by  dreams  or  apparition, 
by  God  to  man.  The  recipient  of  the  divine  message  is 
"inspired";  but  v.hen  lie  publishes  the  communication 
credence  will   be  given   to   it  in  proportion  to  the  confi- 


TJicohxjy  and  Mythology.  35 

dencc  to  be  placed  in  the  veracity  of  the  narrtitor,-ar.d 
tlio  nature  of  the  communication  itself.  When  the  mes- 
sage  is  retailed,  second  hand,  it  ceases  to  be  an  inspira- 
tion, and  must  be  subject  to  the  like  tests  that  would  be 
applied  to  a  statement  making  no  claims  to  inspiration. 
There  is,  too,  the  ever-recurring  possibility  that  the  me- 
dium through  "whom  the  "  Revelation  "  has  been  made 
may,  owing  to  some  peculiar  mental  or  cerebral  condi- 
tion, have  been  laboring  under  a  species  of  hallucination 
and  therebv  mistook  the  creations  of  a  disordered  imair- 
ination  for  a  divine  revelation.  It  is  not  a  little  remark- 
able that  before  putting  themselves  into  communication 
with  the  Unseen  the  prophets  usually  fasted  for  long 
periods,  and  then  saw  these  strange  visions  they  have 
recorded.  Moses  fasted  forty  days,  so  did  Elisha,  and 
so  did  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  It  is  a  well-ascertained  fact 
that  ftxsting  prostrates  the  nervous  system  and  renders 
tlie  imposition  of  hallucination  of  all  kinds  easy.  Indeed  in 
Eastern  countries  dementedpersons  were  supposed  to  be 
under  the  immediate  protection  of  the  gods.  Sometimesno 
attention  was  paid  to  vaticinations.  The  Trojans  disre- 
garded the  prophetic  Titterings  of  Cassandra,  daughter  of 
Priam,  because  she  was  considered  demented.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  it  was  not  easy  always  for  the  prophet  him- 
self to  decide  whether  he  was  imposed  upon  by  some 
lying  spirit.  The  eighteenth  chapter  of  II  Chronicles 
i'urnishcs  us  with  the  extraordinary  information  that 
God  himself  sometimes  selected  some  of  these  evil  spirits 
to  do  his  v/ork  :  "  Again,  he  said.  Therefore  hear  tlie 
word  of  the  Lord.  I  saw  the  Lord  sitting  upon  his 
throne,  and  all  the  hosts  of  heaven  standing  on  his  right 
hand   and   on   \{h  left.     And   the  Lord  said.  Who   shall 


30  Theology  and  2i>jthology. 

cuticle  Aliab,  king  of  Israel,  that  he  may  go  up  and  fall 
at  Ramoth-Gilead  ?  and  one  spake  saying  after  this  man- 
ner and  another  saving  after  that  manner.  Then  came 
there  out  a  spirit  and  stood  before  the  Lord,  and  said,  I 
will  entice  him  ;  and  the  Xord  said,  Whercv.uth  ?  And 
lie  said,  I  will  go  out  and  he  a  lying  spirit  in  the  mouth 
of  all  his  2)rophets.  And  tlie  Lord  said,  Thou  slialt 
entice   hira  and  thou  shalt  also  prevail ;  go  out  and  do 


even  so." 


What  a  perfectly  anthropomorphic  picture  isliere  pre- 
sented !  The  Lord  of  the  limitless  Universe  sitting 
upon  his  throne  !  Like  a  king  in  council  surroundcdby 
his  courtiers,  devising  the  de^ith  of  a  man  hateful  to  him, 
seeking  advice  from  liis  cabinet  ministers ;  hearing  the 
arguments  of  the  heavenly  officials ;  patiently  listening 
to  tedious  speeches,  ''one  speaking  after  tliis  manner 
and  another  after  that  manner  ";  condescending  to  ac- 
cept advice,  and  finally  adopting  tlie  basest  policy,  com- 
manding a  lyiug  spirit  to  "steal  the  livery  of  heaven" 
and  thereby  betray  an  enemy  to  death  !  Yet  men  are 
called  infidels  and  atheists  by  narrow-minded  zealots  and 
liypocrites  because  they  entertain  loftier  conceptions  of 
the  God  of  the  Universe  tiian  to  believe  for  a  moment 
that  a  narrative  representing  him  in  tlie  meanest  aspect 
it  is  possible  to  conceive  is  of  divine  origin.  This  same 
veracious  account  informs  us  that  though, four  hundred 
prophets,  inspired  by  the  lying  spirit,  advised  Aluib  to 
go  up  to  battle,  yet  there  was  one  whom  he  refused  to 
consult  until  urged  thereto  by  his  ally  Jehoshaphat.  ^Of 
this  one  he  says  :  "  There  \i  yet  one  man  by  v/hom  we 
may  inquire  of  the  Lord  ;  but  I  hate  liini,  for  lie  never 
prophesies  good  to  me,  but  evil."     Precisely  similar  Ian- 


Theology  and  Mythology.  37 

crunffo  Homer  mukcs  Ai3i;pineainon  use  ndJres;ln2;  C;il- 
clias  !  "  Prophet  of  evil !  for  never  luive  you  spoken  an 
{igrceaLle  prediction  or  one  that  Avas  acconipL'shed." 
Yet  the  delineation  given  us  by  Ahab  of  the  Jewish 
prophet  Micaiah  is  inspired,  while  Agamemnon's  descrip- 
tion of  Calchas  is  a  purelj''  poetic  conception  !  If  the 
book  of  Chronicles  is  "  inspired,"  the  grandest  epic  poem 
written  in  the  noblest  language  ever  framed  by  liuman 
tongue  can  lay  some  claims  to  a  divine  origin.  The 
writer  of  the  "  Chronicles  of  the  Kings  of  Israel,"  who- 
ever he  may  have  been,  claims  for  himself  no  inspiration. 
The  writer  of  the  Iliad,  with  a  dash  of  sublimity  worthy 
of  his  magnificent  work,  in  his  opening  verse  invokes  a 
goddess  to  sing  "  the  woeful  wrath  of  Achilles,  the  son 
of  Pcleus." 


CHAPTER  lY. 

A  GKEAT  portion  of  Cln-istiun  people,  totally  niiac- 
qiuiintcd  uith  tlie  nrguments  iu  f;ivor  of  or  against  the 
doctrine  of  biblical  inspiration,  accept  it,  not  as  the 
result  of  reasonable  deduction  or  rational  inquiry,  but 
because  of  impression  made  upon  the  mind  in  tender 
years.  Yet  the  same  people  would  instantly  and  con- 
temptuously reject  statements  as  extravagant  as  the  bib- 
lic:il  narratives,  if  recorded  in  any  other  book.  If  asked 
uhy  they  consider  the  Scriptures  inspired,  the  easy  and 
prompt  reply  is.  Because  they  were  written  by  God.  If 
asked  again,  Avhy  they  believe  God  wrote  them,  the 
equally  easy  and  equally  irrational  answer  would  proba- 
bly be,  "  Because  the  Scriptures  themselves  assert  that 
they  were  so  written."  God  certilies  for  the  inspiration 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  Scriptures  in  return  recite  the 
fact  !  That  is  the  whole  basis  of  arguments  in  favor  of 
inspiration. 

The  most  monstrous,  capricious  and  causeless  viola- 
tions of  the  undeviating  laws  of  nature  are  satisfactorily 
accounted  for  by.the  hypothesis  of  miraculous  interven- 
tion ! 


Theology  and  ^Lyiholoyy.  39 

AVliat  should  v,-e  tliiiik  of  the  sanity  of  the  individual 
who  might  assert  that  the  sum  of  the  three  angles  of  a 
plane  triangle  was  greater  than  two  right  angles,  and  in 
demonstration  of  this  mathematical  absurdity  gravely 
assure  us  that,  if  we  doubted  the  fact,  he  could  raise  the 
dead  or  violate  some  well-ascertained  natural  laAv  ?  The 
apologists  of  scriptural  inspiration  act  in  a  manner 
somewhat  similar  :  when  we  call  in  question  the  divine 
origin  of  the  Scriptures  they  assure  us  that  they  nnist  be 
inspired  because  they  contain  the  recitals  of  physical 
impossiVjilities.  Were  the  working  of  a  miracle  bj^  any 
means  possible,  its  performance,  as  affording  a  satisfac- 
tor}'  solution  of  some  other  phj^sical  impossibility,  would 
be  utterly  valueless.  For  the  men  of  the  present  day 
and  for  all  future  generations,  the  age  of  miracles  is 
past.  We  can  now  afford  to  smile  at  the  delusions  that, 
were  practiced  only  two  centuries  ago.  Yet  so  great 
was  the  power  of  superstition  up  to  a  comparatively 
recent  period,  and  so  deep  the  impression  made  by  the 
false  teachinc;  of  the  Church  in  the  Ions;  nio-ht  of  i<2;no- 
ranee,  and  during  the  eclipse  of  the  European  intellect 
for  sixteen  centuries,  that  even  men  of  the  highest  intel- 
ligence had  not  succeeded  in  emancipating  themselvet^, 
from  the  condition  of  mental  slavery  to  which  priestcraft 
had  reduced  them.  In  England,  so  late  as  the  reign  ol' 
George  the  Third,  Sir  William  Blackstone,  the  iamor. 
author  of  the  Commentaries,  in  that  noble  treatise  upon 
the  Common  Law  of  England,  expresses  his  convictio-i 
of  the  existence  of  witchcraft,  and  says  that  though  tl- 
testimon}'  upon  which  one  ought  to  be  convicted  of  that 
crime  should  be  of  the  clearest  and  strono-est  charactei', 
yet   he  asserts  that  the  Scriptures  and  experience   had 


40  Theology  and  Mytliology. 

ucmonstratcd  the  fact  of  its  cxistenO,e,  :iik1  that  tlioso 
prticticiiig  it  should  be  adjudged  guilty  and  suffer  the 
death  penalty. 

What  court  of  justice  ^vould  to-day  allow  a  huiuaii 
beiufr  to  be  arrai2;ncd  for  such  an  offense  ?  The  world 
moves  slowlv,  but  still  it  moves  ! 

In  theology,  a  miracle  may  be  defined  to  be  an  cveiit 
liappening  in  contradiction  to  and  in  violation  of  the 
laws  of  nature.  In  a  certain  sense,  indeed,  in  which  the 
term  may  be  employed,  every  operation  of  nature  is 
miraculous,  or  tb.e  subject  of  reverential  wonder.  The 
gradual  growth  of  tlie  acorn  into  the  oak  passes  huma'i 
comprehension;  bnt  yet  it  is  in  strict  and  Jiarmonions 
accordance  with  regular  processes  and  successive  changes, 
l^e  fecret  working  of  which  we  are  profoundly  ignorant 
of.  AYe  cannot  detect  the  silent  o])eration  of  those  forces 
and  principles  by  which  it  draws  nutriment,  increase  of 
volume,  and  new  form  from  c:irth  and  air  and  water. 
Yet  if  science  enabled  us,  as  she  may  at  no  distant  day, 
to  lay  bare  the  process  by  which  all  this  wonderful 
change  is  accomplished,  Ave  should  doubtless  see  undevi- 
ating  regularity  and  unbroken  continuity  in  every  trans- 
tbrmation,  from  tlie  lowest  germ  to  the  highest  develop- 
ment of  all  life,  vegetable  and  animal.  In  ]Nature's 
story  there  are  no  blanjc  chapters.  In  the  golden  cliain 
of  continuity  no  link  is  missing.  Cause  and  effect  are 
one  and  tlie  same.  There  is  neither  present,  past  nor 
future.  Wliat  is  is  but  the  product  of  wliat  was,  and 
the  future  is  only  the  extension  of  the  present.  \yc 
speak  erroneously  of  gaps  in  our  lives  and  chasms  in 
our  histories.  Eveiy  event  in  tlie  life  of  the  individual 
is   necessarily  connected  v.illi   soiiie   prior  (M)nditions,  or 


Theology  and  Injthology.  41 

niiher  all  ])rior  conditions.  Kotliing  is  fortuitous.  Man 
is  pp.rt  of  liis  surroundings;  and  a  corresponding  sequence 
of  events  marks  the  inarch  of  nations  from  tlic  cradle  to 
the  grave.  Nny,  further,  tliis  condition  of  dependeiu;i? 
afiects  the  universe.  It  is  only  when  we  begin  to  appre- 
ciate the  relation  of  one  thins;  in  nature  to  another — of 
the  atom  to  the  immeasurable  mass — that  we  are  willing 
to  exclaim  with  d'Alembert,  "  The  universe  is  but  a  sin- 
gle fact;  it  is  only  one  great  truth." 

Even  in  the  rudest  stages  of  hunian  barbarism,  the 
reasoning  faculties  of  man  must  have  been  quickened 
into  life  and  activity  by  the  grand  panorama  presented 
by  day  and  night  and  the  regular  recurrence  of  the  sea- 
sons. The  sun  gave  man  light  and  warmth,  and  in  con- 
sequence becam.c  the  first  object  of  his  unreasoning  wor- 
ship. He  must  have  noticed  with  interest  and  amazement 
the  full  and  waning  moon,  presenting  with  ever-recurring 
regularity,  every  month,  the  same  appearance.  As  he 
lay  out  at  night,  guarding  his  flocks  from  the  attacks  of 
ferocious  animals  or  prowling  robbers,  he  beguiled  the 
weary  hours  watching  the  slow  processions  of  tlie  stars 
in  the  vault  of  lieaven,  and  soon  learned,  by  simple  and 
rude  contrivances,  to  divide  the  watches  of  tlie  niglit 
into  regular  periods.  Sometimes  a  licry  meteor  shot 
across  his  dazzled  vision  and  filled  him  with  feelings  of 
awe  and  amazement;  but  its  IVeciuent  recurrence,  in 
time,  ceased  to  cause  him  alarm.  \\q  may  imagine  witli 
wliat  foreboding  of  imper.ding  evil  he  regarded  an  ob- 
scuration of  the  noonday  sun,  caused  by  the  transit  of  a 
planet  across  its  disk.  Histoiy  has  informed  us  how 
frequently  the  latter  occurrence  has  tlii'own  di:.-ciplincd 
:\rmirs  into  utter  confusion,  evcji  among  civilize;!  iiations. 


Theology  and  Mytliology. 


Jiut  the  careful  observers  of  the  starry  heavens  were  soon 
led  to  the  conclusion  tliat  even  this  phenomenon  was 
under  the  domain  of  law  and  order.  Hence  wc  find 
among  tlic  nations  of  antiquity  those  skilled  in  astronomy 
naturally  assuminpj  the  offices  of  priests  and  teachers, 
and,  hy  their  superior  knowledge  and  their  ability  to 
predict  astral  changes,  holding  the  ignorant  and  super- 
stitious in  absolute  and  abject  submission.  The  day  has 
not  long  passed  away  in  civilized  Europe  since  the 
crowned  king  trembled  in  the  presence  of  the  barefoot 
priest,  and  the  mightiest  despot  lowered  his  scepter  before 
the  ring  of  the  Fisherman.  But  when  astronomy  had 
become  a  science,  when  the  motions  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  liad  been  determined  with  tolerable  accuracy ; 
when  the  recurrence  of  an  eclipse  could  be  calculated 
Ions  beforehand  :  when  it  was  ascertained  that  this  earth 
was  not  an  infinitely  extended  surface,  but  a  sphere  float- 
ing in  infinite  space;  when  the  appearance  of  a  comet 
no  longer  filled  the  world  with  the  direst  apprehension  ; 
when  the  entrails  of  chickens  ceased  to  be  inspected  with 
reverential  scrutiny ;  when  tlie  cackling  of  a  flock  of 
geese  overheard  attracted  no  attention — then  it  was  not 
difficult  to  predict  that  the  age  of  miracles  was  rapidly 
passing  away,  and  that  man  had  outgrown  the  swaddling 
clothes  of  his  intellectual  infancv.  Even  in  Juvenal's 
time  it  had  become  a  jest  among  the  Roman  girls  that 
the  gods  had  grown  old  upon  the  mountains,  and  as  a 
consequence  the  number  of  great  men  claiming  divine 
parentage  had  wonderfully  diminished.  In  the  infancy 
of  the  world  and  in  the  twiliglit  of  reason,  superstition 
ascribed  to  Divine  interference  ever}'-  occurrence  for 
which  iij-norance  of  the  law3  of  nature  failed  to  afford  a 


Theology  and  J\f)jiiiulogy.  43 

satisfiK-tory  explanation.     The   luunher  of  tlic  gods   in 
(M-eased  almost  as  rapidly  as  that  cf  unexplained  natural 
phenomena,    and  disappeared  as  knowledge  of  natural 
law  prevailed.     Traces  of  the   error  of  ascribing  grca; 
and  even  insignificant  events  to  supernatural  interference 
may  yet   be  distinguished  lingering  in  modern  tlieology. 
Wc    arc    still    occasionally  presented    with   the  painfjii 
spectacle  of  Christian  churches  invoking  the  Divine  iu 
terference   to   send  plenteous  harvests ;  to  avert  plagn 
and  pestilen.ccs  ;  to  grant  success  in  battle ;  and  even  t 
regulate   the   quantity  of  rain  falling  in  a  certain   arc: 
setting  apart,  sometimes  by  legal  authority,  days  of  nn 
tional  fasts  and  humiliation,  hoping  thereby  to  appeas-' 
the  offended  God,  whose  enmity  has  been  incurred  eithoi 
by  individual  sins  or  increased  general  depravity.     The 
student  of  natural   laws  and  phenomena  sees,  the  more 
deeply  he  investigates,  no  necessity  in  any  natural  oper- 
ation  for    any  liypothesis    of    miraculous    interference. 
Every  jidvancing  step  he  takes,  every  new  truth  he  dis- 
covers, and  every  additional  fact  lie  becomes  acquainted 
with,  all  tend  to  the  elucidation  of  the  inevitable  connec- 
tion,  sequence  and  correlation  of  all  phenomena.     It  is 
ordy  by  rigidly  excluding   the   theory  of  arbitrary  inter- 
ference  that  he   is  at  all  enabled  to  recognize  the  exist- 
ence of  the  principles,  grand  and  simple,  connected  with 
the  existence  of  the  minutest  atoms  equally  with  that  of 
-the  infinite  and  unnumbered  systems  that  compose  that 
which  the  poverty  of  human  speech  calls  "  the  universe." 
Had  Galileo,  Copernicus,  Kepler,  LaPlace,  Newton  and 
Ilerschel  been  impressed  with  the  idea  that  the  revolution 
of  the  planets  depended  upon  the  exercise  of  arbitrary  will, 
th.ey  would  liavc  abandoned  all  attempts   at  explanation 


44    .  Theology  and  Mythology. 

<.)i"  the  npparcntly  inexplicable  inoti(jns  of  tlic  lioavoiily 
l)odics;  they  would  never,  hampered  by  this  false  theory, 
have  been  enabled  to  make  those  niafrnificent  discoveries 
that  have  brought  glory  to  humanity  and  demonstrated 
the  possibilities  raan  is  capable  of  in  the  ennobling  pur- 
suit of  knowlcdire. 

The  three  grand  discoveries  of  Kepler  are :  tliat  the 
orbit  of  a  planet  is  an  ellip'sc,  and  not  a  circle,  as  pre- 
viously supposed ;  that  the  areas  traversed  by  a  line 
drawn  from  the  planet  to  the  sun  are  proportional  to  the 
times ;  the  last  is  the  defining  the  relation  between  the 
mean  distances  of  planets  from  the  sun  and  the  times  of 
their  revolution,  establishing  the  grand  fact  that  the 
squares  of  the  periodic  times  of  the  planets  are  propor- 
tional to  the  cubes  of  their  distances.  This  latter  discov- 
ery, considered  as  a  triumph  of  pure  mathematical  de- 
duction, is  probably  the  most  magnificent  truth  ever 
evolved  by  the  human  intellect.  Philosophically  con- 
sidered, as  aifording  proof  of  tlie  complex  mathematical 
laws  regulating  the  motions  of  the  heaveidy  bodies,  and 
striking  a  death-blow  at  the  puerile  doctrine  of  arbitrary 
interference,  that  so  long  blinded  and  misled  human  in- 
quiry,, it  has  been  of  incalculable  importance.  Yet,  as 
might  naturally  have  been  expected,  this  grand  achieve- 
ment in  the  fair  field  of  scientific  inquiry  met  v.ith  eccle- 
siastical censure ;  for  tlie  Church,  in  its  blindness,  will 
have  no  man  reach  tlie  heavens  except  by  the  way  she 
])oints  out.  Every  astronomical  discovery  of  any  itnpor- 
tance  has  been  based  upon  the  true  conception  that  unde- 
viating  order  and  regularity  are  the  conditions  inseparable 
from  all  natm-al  laws.  The  planets  move  nearlj'  cllipli(^- 
ally    aror.r.d    the    £r.n.     Perturbations    in    tlic    elliptical 


Theology  and  Mythology.  45 

movements  are  caused  by  tlio  mutually  attractive  influ 
cnces  of  tlie  planets  themselves.  Knowing  the  masses 
and  distances  of  certain  planets,  their  perturbations  can 
be  ascertained  with  mathematical  accuracy ;  or  given  any 
two  of  the  factors,  the  third  can  bo  easily  calculated.  It 
had  lono;  beeu  a  matter  of  observation  amono-  astronomers 
that  Uranus  in  his  motion  deviated  very  considerably 
from  the  figure  of  a  true  ellipse.  To  account  satisfac- 
torily for  tliis  deviation  it  was  necessary  to  suppose  the 
existence  of  some  immense  planet  whose  attraction  upon 
Uranus  had  produced  the  perturbation.  Is^o  such  planet 
was  known  to  exist,  yet  patiently,  for  years,  the  educated 
believers  in  the  grand  doctrine  of  the  harmony  of  the 
universe  night  after  night  swept  the  heavens  with  their 
glasses.  The  attempt  at  the  vei-ification  of  the  hypothe- 
sis lead  to  the  discovery  of  Neptune.  Thus  science, 
rigidly  excluding  the  prohine  assumption  of  miraculous 
interference,  unclouded  by  superstition  and  unaffected 
by  fabulous  revelations  whose  antiquity  forms  their  only 
claim  to  any  attention,  has  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  her 
w^ay,  asking  no  quarter,  enlarging  the  bounds  of  human 
knowledge,  and  conferring  benefits  and  blessino;s  even 
upon  the  zealots  and  bigots  who  have  anathematized  her, 
and  placed  obstructions  in  her  path  for  tv\'0  thousand 
years. 

Conceding  the  doctrine  of  the  existence  of  an  Omnip- 
otent Intellio;ence  wlio  has  communicated  certain  laws 
of  motion  and  coherence  to  all  matter,  yet  might  it  not 
be  considered  a  libel  upon  his  omnipotence  and  an  insult 
to  his  intelligence  to  assert  that  he  has  been  constantly 
engaged,  on  the  most  trivial  occasions  and  for  the  most 
inhuman   purposes,  i-Ji   interfering  with   the  operation  of 


46  Theology  cnid  Alytfiolugy. 

his  own  inao-niticciit  laws  %  It  is  no  true  reverence  to 
c:ill  tiic  Creator  of  tlic  Universe,  as  he  is  sometimes 
piously  called,  "  the  Great  Architect."  It  is  actual 
impiety  to  imagine,  with  Paley,  that  the  universe  in  its  . 
mechanism  resembled  a  watch  that  was  constantly  get- 
ting out  of  order,  needing  brushing,  adjustment  of  its 
parts,  and  occasionally  even  the  insertion  of  a  mainspring, 
while  the  Creator,  little  better  than  an  unskilled  me- 
chanic, was  occasionally  soliciting  the  advice  and  co- 
operation of  men  and  angels  at  some  particular  juncture 
of  affairs. 

"  Revelation  "  has  repeatedly  asserted  that  the  laws 
of  Nature  have  been  frequently  changed,  modified,  sus- 
pended and  violated,  not  for  the  benefit  of  humanity,  but 
often  at  the  instance  of  some  favored  individual.  To 
prolong  the  slaughter  of  the  Amalekites  by  the  Jews  the 
motion  of  the  earth  was  arrested  for  a  whole  day  !  As 
a  siirn  to  Ivinir  Ilezekiah  that  his  life  would  be  length- 
ened  fifteen  years,  the  sun's  shadow  was  brought  back 
ten  degrees  on  the  dial  of  Ahaz  ! 

Were  it  even  conceded  that  miraculous  interferences 
were  possible,  yet  the  advocates  of  the  truth  of  the  bib- 
lical narratives  would  be  met  with  the  fatal  objection 
that  not  a  single  one  of  these  supposed  miraculous  inter- 
ferences with  the  laws  of  nature  lias  been  exercised  for 
the  social,  physical,  moral  or  political  benefit  of  man- 
kind, the  development  of  the  eartlfs'wcalth,  the  propa- 
gation of  a  new  truth,  or  even  the  discovery  of  labor- 
savino-  machinerv.  Even  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  was  evolved  by  mental  reflection  long  before 
its  announcement  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures — if  indeed 
in  them   it   ever  was  clearly  aiinoj.mced.     Isonc  of  llie 


Thcolucnj  and  ^lythohxjy.  4-7 

prophets,  priests  or  seers  ever  invented  anything  useful 
to    mankind.     Though    they   had    panoramic  dissolving 
views  of  even  the  Deity  liimself  presented  gratuitously, 
ihcy  never,  in    a   solitary  instance,  shed  any  liglit   upon 
the  great  prol)lcms  whose  solution  still  exercises  hum:in- 
itv.     TliouMi   they   could   in   heatilic  viJons   trace    the 
course  of  liery  chariots  in  the  air — "  the  horses  and  char- 
iots  of   Israel  " — they    knew   nothing   about   the   useful 
application  cf  steam   as  a  motive-power  to  carriages  on 
land   or  vessels   on  the  ocean.     Electricity  played  harm- 
lessly  about   their   sacred    heads   as   they   ascended   the 
mountain  tops  to  enter  into  communication  with  licaven  ; 
but  never,  in  their  most  exalted  frenzy,  did  they  dream 
of  catching  the  electric  spark  and  sending  it  over  mount- 
ains and  across  desert  lands,  through  seas  and  along  the 
])ed  of  the  ocean,  carrying  intelligence  with  the  speed  of 
lightning,  spreading  knowledge  thraugh  the  earth  and 
unitins:  in  stroncerties  of  brotherhood  the  scattered  races 
of  men,  all   animated  by  the  same  hopes,  oppressed  by 
the  same  fears,  governed   by  the  same  laws,  subject  to 
the   same  conditions  of  being,  advancing  and  letreating 
age  by  age,  as  wave  succeeds  wave,  to  one  common  des- 
tiny. 

It  is  a  fact  suggestive  of  signiiicant  inference  that  all 
n;iraculous  interference  wiih  the  operation  of  all  natural 
laws  are  reported  to  have  occurred  at  times  so  far  remote 
as  to  render  impossible  the  sifting  of  the  evidence  on 
which  they  are  presumed  to  rest;  and  in  ages  io  ignorant 
and  superstitious  that  the  most  extraordinarj-  revehitions 
failed  to  attract  any  popular  attention.  In  the  age  oi 
fable  every  distinguished  man  claimed  divine  parentage. 
The   gods  walked   upon   the  earth   an.d  mingled   in  tm 


48  Theology  and  Mythology. 

affairs  of  men.  Naiads  frequented  the  bunks  of  brooics 
and  rivers,  and  Dryads  flitted  through  tlic  leafy  groves. 
The  image  of  some  tutelary  divinity  adorned  every  fire- 
side and  sat  upon  the  prow  of  every  trireme  that  cut  the 
blue  waters  of  the  ^gean  and  Adriatic. 

Paul,  at  Athens,  still  imbued  with  the  monotheistic 
faith  of  his  race,  rebuked  the  zeal  of  tlij  Athenians,  in- 
forming them  that  in  all  things  they  were  "  too  much 
devoted  to  the  worship  of  demons."  Wc  know  also  that 
within  the  range  of  historical  inquiry  human  experience 
luxs  failed  to  produce  a  solitary  authentic  case  of  miracu- 
lous interference  with  natural  law. 

It  has  been  nsual,  as  an  argument  in  reply  to  this,  to 
assert  that  the  necessity  for  miracles  has  ceased ;  that  all 
llic  divine  information  ihat  mankind  needed  has  been 
couimunicated ;  that  miracles  were  necessary  for  the 
<  stablishment  but  not  for  the  pz'opagation  of  Christianity. 
If  miraculous  interposition  v,'cro  employed  for  tlic  pur- 
pose of  attesting  the  divine  origin  of  Christianity,  it  does 
seem,  considering  the  largo  portion  of  mankind  never 
convcrtell  to  its  doctrines,  and  llic  almost  equally  great 
number  of  Christians  never  brought  practically  within 
its  influence,  that  the  miraculous  interposition,  consider- 
ing the  reputed  onmipotent  character  of  the  Ibrces  em- 
ployed, was  neither  of  sufficient  frequency  in  its  exposi- 
tion nor  of  suflicient  magnituilo  to  produce  the  desired 
result.  It  is  "antecedently  probable,  in  tlic  highest  de- 
gree, that  had  Omnipotence  thought  proper  to  luivc  given 
a  divine  revelation  to  mankind,  it  v^'ould  liave  been 
neither  partial  nor  imperfect,  and  would  Inive  illuminated 
all  humanity,  not  a  select  fow.  lie  who:n  it  is  popularly 
supposed  causes  the  sun  to  shine  for  all,  and  the  rain  to 


Thcoloyy  and  Mytliology.  49 

full  equally  upon  the  just  and  unjust,  would,  it  is  also 
probable  to  suppose,  in  a  communication  v,-liosc  message 
was  to  affect  mankind  for  all  time,  have  rendered  that 
]-cvelati(;n  intelligible  to  all,  and  written  it  in  characters 
of  li^ht  across  the  face  of  nature,  so  that  its  import  could 
net  be  mystified  by  creeds  nor  obscured  by  human  im- 
perfection. 

Science,  seeking  to  throw  light  upon  the  mystery  of 
life  and  death,  and  what  the  hitter  process  leads  to,  is 
patiently  investigating  the  elements  of  organic  and  inor- 
ganic matter,  and  has  already  succeeded  in  the  produc- 
tion of  organic  forms  from  inorganic  elements.  Despite 
the  sneers  of  the  isrnorant  and  half-educated  who  are 
mere  gleaners  following  the  reapers  in  the  harvest-fields 
of  scientific  inquiry,  and  the  steady  and  unrelenting  op- 
position of  the  churches,  clinging  with  the  tenacity  of 
death  to  the  hypothesis  of  a  divine  revelation,  the  great 
doctrine  of  Evolution  is  becoming  more  acceptable  as  it 
is  better  understood  ;  affording,  as  it  does,  tlie  only  ra- 
tional attempt  at  a  solution  yet  given  to  the  ^^'Ol•ld  of 
the  question  of  the  existence  and  divergence  of  the  varied 
types  of  animal  life  found  upon  the  earth. 

The  world,  to  day,  needs  a  divine  revelation  as  much 
.•■s  it  did  two  thousand  years  ago.  The  questions  as  to  the 
inmiortality  of  the  soul  and  the  resurrection  of  the  body 
I'emain  as  unsettled  as  they  were  in  the  days  of  Plato. 
To  the  uneducated  and  unphilosophical  mind  the  doctrine 
(.f  final  extinction  is  terrible  and  repulsive.  Even  to 
many  men  of  thought  and  reflection  it  is  unwelcome. 
We  have  such  capacity  for  enjoyment  and  suffering,  v.'e 
are  so  filled  with  yearninirs  and  lonij-inirs,  we  entertain 
the  consciousness  at  times  tluit  on  c;ulh  our  powers  arc 


50"  21icolo(jy  and  3fytholo(jij. 

imperfectly  developed,  that  we  arc  susceptible  of  greater 
and  more  endurino;  achievements  than  mankind,  cloecired 
\vith  limited  conditions  of  being,  is  capable  of  attaining; 
wo  feci  that  our  tenure  of  terrestrial  life  is  so  short  and 
uncertain  that  we  gladly  embrace  any  doctrine  or  any 
belief  that  promises  the  eternal  fruition  of  an  existence 
uncircumscribed  by  ])hysical  necessities  and  unafiected 
by  the  ever-impending  doom  of  inevitable  extinction. 
Take  from  life  the  hope  of  existence  after  death,  and, 
for  most  of  us,  paralysis  of  the  noblest  incentives  to  in- 
tellectual labor  inevitably  ensues.  True,  for  the  supply 
of  his  physical  necessities  man  is  doomed  to  labor.  The 
wants  of  life  and  physical  pain,  not  to  mention  mental 
luu'cst,  will  goad  him  to  exertion.  Whether  he  live 
again  or  not,  if  he  wants  to  live  at  all,  fields  nuist  be 
cultivated,  roads  must  be  constructed,  cities  must  be 
built,  oceans  and  seas  must  be  traversed,  laws  must  bo 
framed  and  executed,  and  a  complex  social  system  devel- 
oped. By  the  very  condition  of  our  being,  physical  and 
intellectual,  life  is  a  constant  and  endless  struggle.  In 
the  physical-  struggle  of  man  with  natural  forces,  which 
will  ultimately  terminate  in  his  final  mastery,  the  intel- 
lectual portion  of  his  duplex  nature  has  been  called  into 
exercise  ;  and  doubtless  from  the  sharp  necessities  of  his 
physical  existence  he  received  the  primary  incentives  to 
action.  The  savage  wdio  roamed  the  unbroken  prairies 
and  forest  glades  ten  thousand  years  ago,  clad  partially 
with  the  skins  of  animals  slain  in  the  chase,  is  the  true 
ancestor  of  the  nuui  who  to-day  marks  the  course  of  the 
planets,  determines  their  distances,  weighs  their  masses, 
and  flashes  the  thoughts  of  his  buVy  brain  to  his  co-work- 
ers  as  fast   as  Ii2;htnin2;  can  carrv  thcui,  on  wires  Iving^ 


Theology  and  Mythologrj.  51 

deep  on  the  ocean's  bed ;  but  in  intellectual  endowment 
und  development  they  are  wider  apart  than  the  same 
savage  from  the  ourang-outang  !  Knowledge,  with  man, 
lias  not  been  a  sudden  revelation  that  flashed  like  a  sun- 
beam on  his  soul.  His  progress  has  been  essentially  slow 
and  painful.  Every  new  lesson  acquired  has  been  com- 
mitted to  memory  in  much  suffering,  in  patient  waiting, 
and  through  repeated  failures.  Yet  is  all  that  he  has 
gained  but  an  earnest  of  tlie  goodly  heritage  that  the 
generations  who  shall  succeed  him  shall  enjoy  of  intel- 
lectual development  beyond  his  wildest  imaginings.  The 
dream  of  yesterday  is  the  realization  of  to-day;  ■\yhile' 
the  magnificent  achievements  of  the  hour  will  in  their 
turn  be  merged  in  the  mightier  conquests  of  to-morrow  ! 
What  man,  standing  even  on  the  outer  rim  of  this 
waning  century,  turning  his  face  to  the  past  splendid 
achievements  within  his  ow^n  memory,  can  dare  assign  a 
limit  to  the  future  triumphs  of  humanity  ?  Yet,  notwith- 
standing our  progress,  no  matter  how  great  and  impor- 
tant the  movements  made  in  social  and  political  economy; 
liad  we  even  succeeded  in  minimizino;  human  suffbrino; 
and  reached  tlio  highest  degree  of  perfection  man  is 
capable  of  attnining — so  long  as  the  basis  of  our  religious 
systems  is  unstable  and  shifting,  will  perplexity  and 
doubt  paralyze  our  efforta  and  retard  our  progress. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

It  is  asserted  tliat  the  religious  system  of  every  race, 
in  every  age,  is  the  exact  measure  of  the  civilization  at- 
tained. History  amply  verifies  the  assertion.  It  is  also 
equally  true  that  no  religious  system  can  long  he  main- 
tained not  in  harmony  with  the  existing  civilization. 
When  religion  is  inferior ,to  the  civilization,  it  is  aban- 
doned, though  not  immediately.  When  it  is  superior  to 
the  age,  which  rarely  happens,  it  finds  acceptance  with 
only  a  few  advanced  thinkers,  and  is  not  popular  until  a 
higher  intelligence  elevates  public  sentiment. 

Thus  the  monotheistic  teaching  of  Mosos  was  forced 
upon  the  Jewish  race  in  the  early  stages'of  its  history. 
The  civilization  of  the  people  being  of  the  crudest  kind, 
when  the  pressure  of  J\Ioses'  presence  was  withdrawn 
it  fell  naturally  and  inevitably  into  the  idolatrous 
practices  and  worship  of  the  surrounding  nations,  and 
which  was  suited  to  their  condition.  Their  frequent  cry 
was,  their  history  informs  us,  "  Make  us  gods  to  go  be- 
fore us;  for  as  for  this  Moses  that  brought  us  out  of  th.e 
land  of  Egypt,  we  wot  not  what  has  become  of  him  " ; 
and,  naturally  enough,  they  made  a  golden  calf   and 


Theology  and  MytJiology.  53 

worshiped  the  works  of  men's  hands.  Hence  it  is  that 
almost  absohite  failm^,  considering  the  amount  of  money, 
time  and  ability  wasted,  has  marked  all  missionary  en- 
terprise for  the  "  evangelization  "  of  the  savages  of  our 
own  or  other  lands. 

A  savage  who  can  hardly  count  ten  is  not  in  the  best 
mental  condition  to  bestow  thouglit  upon  the  complex 
doctrines  of  the  trinity,  vicarious  atonement,  sanctifica- 
tion  and  justification  by  faitli.  lie  may  be  induced  to 
submit  to  the  process  of  baptism  or  immersion,  because 
it  is  urged  upon  him  by  a  being  whom  he  regards  as  his 
superior;  but  he  knows  as  little  of  the  theological  aspect 
of  the  rite  as  he  does  of  Newton's  Principia.  It  is  a 
question  worthy  of  serious  consideration  whether  some 
means  sliould  not  be  adopted  to  restrain  amiable  but  de- 
luded people  from  annually  expending  large  suras  of 
money  in.  "bringing  glad  tidings"  to  the  Ethiopian 
wliicli  he  is  utterly  incapable  of  comprehending,  while 
the  children  of  want  and  vice,  crime  and  neglect  in  all 
our  great  cities  are  crj'ing  for  bread,  stunted  in  their 
physical  and  intellectual  growth,  filling  our  prisons  long 
before  they  reach  manhood,  and  corrupting  the  social 
system  of  which  they  are  both  the  victims  and  avengers. 

If  miracles  have  been  employed  in  aid  of  Revelation 
and  the  laws  of  nature  have  been  violated  to  support 
religious  teaching,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  divine 
energy  exercised  has  not  accomplished  all  that  nn'ght 
have  reasonably  been  ex})ected.  According  to  the  He- 
brew Scriptures,  the  performance  of  miracles  was  of 
almost  daily  occurrence.  Not  only  on  occasions  of  na- 
tional importance,  but  in  the  most  trivial  affairs  of  lite, 
the  Deity  was  invoked,  and  the  interference  of  the  Om- 


."-I:  Theology  and  Jfythology. 

nipotent  was  successfully  called  into  requisition  whether 
a  vast  army  was  to  be  smitten  by  the  angel  of  death,  or 
a  piece  of  iron  made  to  float  to  th«r  surface  of  a  stream  at 
tlie  entreat}'  of  a  poor  woodcutter.  Yet,  notwithstanding 
this  wanton  prodigality  of  miraculous  interferences,  we 
do  not  find  that  either  the  moral  character  or  political 
condition  of  the  race  for  whose  benefit  these  exhibitions 
of  divine  energy  were  given  diftered  much  from  that  of 
the  surrounding  races  npon  whom  no  such  distinguished 
tavors  were  conferred. 

The  propagation  of  Christianity,  it  is  claimed,  afibrds 
the  best  proof  of  its  divine  origin.  Without  now  enter- 
ing into  a  discussion  of  this  subject,  it  does  seem  that 
had  Omnipotence  actively  interfered  in  its  origin  and 
propagation,  the  results  do  not  at  all  appear  commensu- 
rate with  the  extraordinary  character  and  force  of  the 
energy  employed.  Though  two  thousand  years,  nearly, 
have  elapsed  since  the  institution  of  Christianity,  yet 
there  are,  to-day,  two  hundred  millions  of  people,  on  the 
very  continent  in  which  it  originated,  who  have  never 
heard  even  tlio  name  of  its  reputed  founder,  and  are  to- 
tally ignorant  of  its  existence.  It  may  also  be  remarked 
that  the  difference  existing  between  professing  Christians 
— difierenccs  so  ii;reat  as  to  almost  admit  of  their  classifi- 
cation  as  ditierent  religions — are  in  little  accord  with  the 
supposition  of  the  employment  of  that  spirit  of  harmony 
manifested  in  the  natural  phenomena  expressive  of  Divine 
Intelligence. 

Owing  to  the  accident  of  the  birth  of  the  founder  of 
Christianity',  and  the  policy  of  the  Christian  Church  in 
after  ages  in  grafting  Judaism  npon  the  Christian  relig- 
ion, the  sublime  teaching  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  has  been 


Theology  and  Mythology.  55 

distorted  bj  the  unnatural  mixture  of  tlieology  an*; 
mytliology  that  formed  the  groundwork  of  the  religion 
of  the  Jews.  In  its  savage,  merciless  and  bloody  perse- 
cution of  scientific  men,  philosophical  writers  and  relig- 
ious reformers  who  were  in  advance  of  the  times  in 
which  tliey  lived,  the  Christian  Church  endeavored,  by 
a  base  subterfuge,  to  borrow  sanction  for  its  crimes  and 
outrages,  against  the  most  enlightened  exponents  of  hu- 
man civilization,  from  the  policy  of  the  Jewish  Church 
against  its  enemies.  The  Jew^ish  Church,  if  we  except 
the  Christian,  was  the  most  intolerant  in  the  world. 
The  prophet  Elijah  on  one  occasion  dyed  the  waters  of 
the  brook  Kishon  with  the  blood  of  four  hundred  and 
fifty  prophets  who  worshiped  the  god  Baal !  However 
suited  the  rehgious  system  of  the  Jews  and  their  worship 
of  a  "jealous  God,  visiting  the  sins  of  the  fathers  upon 
the  children,"  might  have  been  to  a  "peculiar  people,"  in 
an  age  of  almost  universal  ignorance  and  superstition,  it 
is  evident  that  such  a  system  is  w^holly  iinsuited,  in  any 
form',  to  the  enlightened  spirit  of  the  present  age.  The 
revolt  of  reason,  intellect  and  science  now  is  not  so  much 
a  revolt  against  what  Christianity,  as  contemplated  by 
Jesus,  ought  to  have  been,  but  what  it  has  been  and  is — 
hostile  to  tree  inquiry,  hostile  to  independence  of  thought, 
hostile  to  scientific  investigation,  historical  research,  and 
hostile  to  any  effort  that  w^ould.  emancipate  mankind 
from  the  intellectual  thralldom  that  marked  the  history — 
if  hist^ory  it  ever  had — of  an  Eastern  race  who  have  lef 
nothing  worthy  of  record  after  them  except  the  melan- 
choly fact  that  others  succeeded  in  injecting  their  absurd 
and  illiberal  religious  conceptions  into  the  lifeblood  of 
modern  civilization. 


r-iC)  Thcol()^y  and  Mythology. 

That  Christianity  must,  if  it  endeavors  to  harmonize 
M'ith  the  intellectual  life  of  the  world,  eject  from  its  sys- 
tem this  foreign  element  hardly  admits  of  question. 
Should  it,  however,  through  a  species  of  fatuity,  endeavor 
to  preserve  its  incorporation  with  what  the  world  has 
outgrown,  condemned  and  rejected,  its  own  survival  as 
tlie  religion  of  the  future  is  equally  impossible  and  unde- 
girable. 

Had  Christianity  been  of  Grecian  or  Latin  origin,  it 
is  probable  that  no  taint  of  the  mythologies  of  either 
would  have  adhered  to  it.  Nor  would  the  poetical,  his- 
torical and  philosophical  works  of  Greece  or  Kome, 
though  ranking  far  higher  as  literary  productions  than 
the  Jewish  writings,  have  been  considered  divinely  in- 
spired. Yet  the  Christian  Church  presents  the  strange 
spectacle  of  rejecting  as  unworthy  of  perusal  the  noblest 
monuments  of  an  ancient  civilization,  while  she  adopts, 
as  the  very  expression  of  Divinity,  the  absurdities  and 
n:onstrosities  of  Oriental  romance  and  fiction. 


CHAPTER  YL 

Bkfore  considering  the  evidence  npon  which  Chris- 
tian Ecvelation  rests,  let  ns  sidvcrt  briefly  to  the  condi- 
tion of  the  world  previous  to  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity. It  is  in  the  highest  degree  probable  that  the 
first  religious  conceptions  of  mankind  were  polytheistic. 
A  vast  interval  must  have  elapsed  before  man  emerged 
from  an  absolutely  savage  condition  to  even  the  rudest 
form  of  civilization.  In  this  long  tract  of  time,  which 
v,'e  have  no  means  now  of  estimating  with  any  degree  of 
accuracy,  prehistoric  man  entertained  few  religious  ideas 
and  no  system  of  religious  worship.  In  intellectual  de- 
velopment liG  differed  little  from  the  ape  or  baboon. 
His  laniruao-e  consisted  of  a  few  guttural  sounds  denoting 
pleasui-e  aiid  pain.  In  communication  he  made  use  of 
signs  and  gesticulations,  traces  of  which  survive  to  the 
present  time.  When  he  had  fallen  upon  the  art  of  mak- 
ing a  fire  and  became  acquainted  with  its  use,  lie  had 
made  important  progress.  So  important,  indeed,  was 
this  discovery,  that  ancient  mythology  ascribed  it  to 
Japetus,  the  son  of  Ccelus  and  Terra,  who  had  stolen  the 
art  from  heaven.     The  traces  that  primitive  man  has  left 


58  '  Theology  and  Mythology. 

beliind  liiin,  wlucli  geological  and  paleontological  discov- 
eries have  exposed,  afford  abundant  proof  of  man's  un- 
civilized condition  in  prehistoric  times.  They  furnish 
complete  refutation,  were  any  needed,  of  the  absurd 
mytli,  derived  from  Assyrian  legends,  that  the  first  man 
v\'as  the  most  perfect  of  his  kind.  All  research  has 
brought  to  light  novvdiere,  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  or 
beneath  it,  any  evidences  of  aboriginal  civilization,  but 
abundant  proofs  of  tlie  contrary.  If  mankind  had,  many 
tliousands  of  years  ago,  attained  to  a  moderate  degree  of 
culture,  we  would  have  many  evidences  of  the  fact.  If, 
owing  to  some  catastrophe,  the  human  race  were  sud- 
denly swept  out  of  existence,  as  might  easily,  and 
will  probably  sometime,  happen,  and  were,  after  the 
lapse  of  centuries,  succeeded  in  the  occupancy  of  this 
globe  b}^  a  new  order  of  intelligent  beings,  they  would 
experience  no  difficulty  in  concluding  that  the  race  that 
had  preceded  them  possessed  mental  ability  and  physical 
energy  of  the  most  remarkable  order.  How  grand  would 
be  their  astonislnnent  and  intense  their  satisfaction  in 
readino'  the  outlines  of  human  civilization  in  the  noble 
monuments  of  liis  power  man  hfid  left  behind  him  ! 
V/hen  they  came  upon  the  ruins  of  our  mighty  bridges 
and  magnificent  public  buildings,  our  tunnels  and  via- 
ducts through  rivers  and  mountains,  our  telegraph  wires 
fished  np  from  the  bed  of  the  ocean,  our  steam  engines 
and  printing  presses,  our  iron  roads,  our  ships,  our 
houses  and  machinery,  our  books  and  our  newspapers, 
they  would  stand  dumb  in  admiration  as  they  contem- 
plated the  eloquent  exponents  of  a  mighty  race  extinct 
and  a  marvelous  civilization  dead  !  But  what  have  tlie 
primitive  races  left  behind  them  indicative  of  civilization 


Theology  and  Ifythology.  59 

and  progress  ?  Absolutely  nothing,  if  we  except  a  fev 
rude  implements  of  stone,  hatchets  and  arrowheads,  ;■ 
few  mounds  and  cairns,  and  rude  dwelling-piaces  in  lakes 
and  bogs,  in  which  we  would  not  shelter  our  domesti- 
cated animals  or  cattle.  Countless  aijes  must  have 
elapsed  while  man  lived  in  a  nomadic  condition.  The 
cities  of  India,  Egypt  and  Mexico  belong  to  a  compara- 
tively recent  period  in  human  history.  They  had  no 
existence  in  what  is  termed  the  age  of  stone.  It  was 
only  when  he  developed  the  higher  social  qualities  of 
his  nature  that  man  began  to  live  in  communities.  His 
savage  nature  must  have  been  subdued  by  bitter  experi- 
ence of  his  inability,  in  a  condition  of  isolation,  to  con- 
tend with  animals  6tron2;er  and  more  ferocious  than 
himself,  before  he  acquired  the  control  of  his  passions 
and  appetites  sufficiently  for  the  existence  of  commun- 
istic association,  lie  next  learned  to  build  and  inhabit 
cities,  which  became  his  defenses  against  the  attacks 
of  predatory  bands,  as  w^ell  as  the  foci  from  which 
civilization  radiated.  Cities  are  generally  the  centers  of 
all  great  movements.  Yfhen  the  intelligence  of  Eome 
had  overthrown  the  mytliology  of  the  gods,  the  ancient 
cult  still  flourished  in  the  country.  Those  who  adhered 
to  it  were  styled  "  pagans  "  or  villagers.  The  Christian 
Church  improperly  employed  the  term  as  designating 
idolatrous  nations. 

It  is  a  fact  that  the  religious  ideas  of  the  primitive 
i-accs  scattered  over  the  surface  of  tlie  earth  presented 
many  differences,  totally  irreconcilable  witli  the  theory 
of  a  divine  revelation.  It  is  presumed  tliat  these  differ- 
ences in  religious  conceptions  were  the  result  of  difference 


60  Theology  and  Mythology. 

in  location,  difference  in  mode  of  living,  difference  in 
physical  phenomena,  difference  in  climate,  food,  and  in 
the  difficulties  that  eacti  race  or  tribe  had  to  contend 
with  in  its  struggle  for  existence.  If  this  hypothesis  be 
a  reasonable  one,  it  would  follow  that  the  religious  ideas 
and  modes  of  worship  of  the  natives  of  Hindostan  would 
vary  very  considerably  from  the  religious  conceptions 
and  practices  of  the  inhabitants  of  southern  Europe  at 
the  same  period  of  time.  If  a  particular  race  or  tribe 
were  confined  to  a  country  where  the  aspect  of  nature 
was  wild  and  terrible — in  a  land  of  lofty  mountains 
whoso  summits  were  crowned  witli  perpetual  snow,  of 
dense  forests  filled  with  ferocious  animals,  where  mon- 
strous serpents  and  s'cnomous  reptiles  rendered  existence 
almost  intolerable,  where  wide  and  rapid  rivers  over- 
flowed, at  times^  a  great  portion  of  the  country  and  swept 
away  the  toil  and  labor  of  years,  where  lagoons  were 
infested  with  alligators  and  other  terrible  monsters,  where 
pestiferous  malaria,  noisome  plagues,  and  epidemics  an- 
nually carried  away  a  great  portion  of  the  population, 
where  earthquakes  and  hurricanes  spread  devastation — 
in  such  circumstances  and  aijflicted  with  such  appalling 
environments,  we  should  naturally  expect  that  the  relig- 
ion of  the  race  would  partake  of  the  gloom  and  horror 
that  tinctured  every  day's  existence.  Instead,  like  the 
modern  Christian,  of  forming  extravagant  pictures  of 
heaven,  of  dreaming  of  a  beautiful  city,  through  the 
nndst  of  v.diich  flowed  a  river  clear  as  crystal,  whose 
streets  were  paved  with  pure  gold,  where  the  Deity  for- 
ever sat  upon  a  great  white  throne  resplendent  with 
diamonds  and  precious  stones  of  all  colors  and  hues,  the 
religious  worship  would   be  naturally  exercised  in  at- 


Theology  and  Mythology.  CI 

tempting  to  appease  the  ferocity  of  the  monstera  excit- 
ing terror,  and  in  endeavoring  to  secure  immunity  from 
danger  by  offering  gifts  to  the  priests,  or  decorating  the 
temple  in  wliich  was  popularly  supposed  to  reside  the 
Divinity  of  the  terrible  spirits  that  wrought  desolation 
and  havoc  among  men. 

In  speculating  upon  future  existence,  the  power  of 
imasination  is  called  into  more  exercise  than  the  reason- 
ing  faculties.  In  all  ages  the  imagination  has  given 
form  and  color  to  man's  religious  views.  The  wilder 
and  m.ore  exuberant  the  imagination,  the  more  incongru- 
ous and  extravagant  will  be  religious  ideas  and  the  modes 
of  worship  in  which  they  arc  expressed.  Conversely,  in 
the  same  proportion  as  the  imagination  is  under  the  con- 
trol of  reason  will  all  religiou&  worship  conform  to  the 
requirements  of  decency  and  moderation.  Buckle  re- 
marks :  "  So  complete  is  our  ignorance  respecting  an- 
other life  that  it  is  no  wonder  if  the  stoutest  heart  should 
quail  at  the  sudden  approach  of  that  dark  and  untried 
future.  On  this  subject  the  reason  is  perfectly  silent ; 
the  imagination  therefore  is  uncontrolled." 

In  India,  probably,  more  than  any  other  country  on 
the  surface  of  the  globe,  are  the  natural  phenomena 
more  calculated  to  excite  the  imagination  and  oppress 
and^jewildcr  the  reasoning  powers.  Hence"  we  should 
naturally  expect  that  both  the  ancient  literature  and  re- 
ligion of  that  land  w^ould  be  distinguished  by  luxuriance 
and  extravagance  of  imagination,  transgressing  all  rea- 
sonable bounds.  There  the  aspect  of  nature  is  grand 
and  imposing.  Tlie  mountains  are  the  highest  in  the 
world.  Its  rivers  are  swift,  deep  and  turbulent.  The 
land  is  covered  with  impenetrable  jnnglcsv.-liose  stillness 


G2  Theolo(ju  and  Mythology. 

is  only  broken  by  the  tramp  of  the  miglity  elephant,  the 
liowl  of  the  hyena,  and  the  appalling  roar  of  the  tiger. 
The  rivers  swarm  with  alligators  of  horrible  aspect; 
deadly  vipers  and  reptiles  attain  to  monstrous  growth, 
favored  by  a  tro])ical  sun  and  rank  vegetation.  De- 
structive tempests  that  convulse  the  face  of  nature  sweep 
over  land  and  sea  with  a  suddenness  aiid  fury  that  ren- 
der man  utterly  powerless  to  provide  against  the  terrible 
calamities  that  follow  in  their  track.  The  heat  is  op- 
pressive. Plagues  more  terrible  than  invading  armies 
sometimes  sweep  oif  the  population  by  millions.  The 
individual  is  almost  appalled  by  the  magnitude  of  the 
evils  with  which  he  has  to  struggle  for  existence.  His 
physical  and  mental  energies  arc  debilitated.  His  rea- 
son is  subjugated,  while  his  imagination  runs  riot.  His 
condition  beino;  almost  intolerable,  he  easilv  believes 
that  his  forefathers  were  superior  to  himself.  The  bless- 
ed time  in  which  they  lived  was  the  golden  age.  The 
gods,  now  enraged,  were  then  friendly  to  men — they  re- 
sided upon  earth  and  associated  in  the  most  intimate 
relations  with  humanity.  This  blessed  age,  however,  he 
assigns  to  an  antiquity  so  remote  as  to  render  any  at- 
tempt to  rob  him  of  his  delusion  impossible.  This  far- 
behind  and  dim  past  he  peoples  with  the  creations  of  his 
imagination,  clothes  them  with  flesh  and  blood,  asQj'ibes 
to  them  strength  of  body,  prolongation  of  life  and  splen- 
dor of  achievements  far  surpassing  anything  existing  in 
the  degenerate  daj'S  that  he  has  fallen  upon.  This  dis- 
position to  magnify  and  extol  the  past  is  indeed  a  natu- 
ral trait  and  confined  to  no  particular  race  or  locality. 
Homer  admirably  portrays  this  when  he  represents  the 
old   man   Nestor  boastina"  that  he    had    lived   through 


Theology  and  JSFytlwlogy.  G3 

three  generations  of  articulate -speaking  men,  that  he 
never  in  his  hitter  days  saw  such  men  as  he  associated 
^vith  in  his  youth,  that  they  were  like  the  immortal  gods 
and  fought  with  the  gods.  It  is  highly  probable,  had 
Nestor  a  great-grandson,  he  also  in  his  dotage  would 
have  made  a  remark  very  similar.  In  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  borrowed  from  Assyrian  sources,  we  find 
allusion  to  the  great  age  attained  by  men  in  the  infancy 
of  the  world.  Previous  to  the  deluge,  we  are  informed 
tliat  the  duration  of  human  life  averaged  eight  hundred 
years.  "There  were  giants  on  the  eartli  inthose  days; 
and  also  after  that  when  the  sons  of  God  came  in  unto 
the  daughters  of  men,  that  they  bare  children  unto  them, 
and  the  same  became  mighty  men  which  were  of  old, 
men  of  renown." 

But  the  imaginative  power  of  the  Jew,  though  un- 
doubtedly great,  was  modest  and  within  bounds  com- 
pared with  that  of  tlie  Hindu.  In  the  Vishnu  Purana 
we  are  informed  that  for  sixty  thousand  years  "  no  other 
youthful  monarch  except  Alarka  reigned  over  the  earth." 
Wiiford,  in  his  "Asiatic  Researches,"  says  :  "When  the 
Puranics  speak  of  ancient  times  they  are  equally  extrav- 
airant.     Accordinp;  to  them   Kina;    Yudhisther  reio;ned 

C?  0*0,  o 

seven  and  twenty  thousand  years."  The  same  author 
also  makes  mention  of  King  Prathand,  who  was  two 
hundred  thousand  years  old  when  he  ascended  the  throne. 
He  only  reigned  six  million  three  hundred  tliousand 
years,  when  he  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  sons,  and  spent 
the  few  remaining  days — only  one  hundred  thousand 
yeai-s — of  his  useful  life  in  prayer,  sanctity  and  seclusion 
from  the  cares  of  the  world.  Sir  William  Jones,  the 
<j;reatest  Oriental  scholar  of  his  day,  says :  "  We  hear  of 


C4  Theology  and  Jlfythology. 

a  conversation  between  Yalnjic  and  Vyasa,  two  bards 
whose  ages  were  separated  by  a  period  of  eiglit  hundred 
and  sixty-four  thousand  years."  The  Institutes  of  Menu 
are  probabl}^  about  three  thousand  years  old  ;  yet  the 
Hindu  tradition  asserts  tliat  they  were  divinely  revealed 
to  man  some  two  thousand  million  years  ago !  The 
worship  of  the  god  Siva  is  the  most  ancient  as  well  as 
tlie  most  prevalent  in  India.  Brahma  and  Yishnu  sub- 
sequently shared  divine  honors  with  him,  and  the  three 
compose  the  Hindu  Trinity.  Tlie  representations  of  the 
god  Siva  inspire  tlie  Hindu  mind  with  terror.  The  cult- 
ured Greek,  loving  the  beautiful,  would  turn  away  in 
disgust  from  the  representations  of  a  god  before  whom 
the  Hindu  abjectl}'  prostrates  himself.  The  image  of 
Siva  is  encircled  by  a  string  of  knotted  snakes.  His 
necklace  consists  of  luiman  bones  strung  together.  He 
carries  a  human  skull  in  his  rio;ht  hand.'  He  is  a  mon- 
ster  with  three  cj'es,  and-  partially  clothed  with  tlie  skin 
of  a  tiger.  The  head  of  a  horrible  cobra  di  capcllo  tow- 
ers over  his  left  shouldej-.  The  wife  of  this  horrible  god, 
whose  worship  is  the  most  popular  in  India,  is  represent- 
ed in  equally  disgusting  colors.  Doorga  has  a  body 
painted  blue.  She  has  four  arras,  on  one  of  which  she 
supports  the  skull  of  a  giant.  The  palms  of  .the  quad- 
rumanous  goddess  are  stained  with  blood.  Her  tono-ue 
is  loyg,  and  protrudes  from  her  mouth  lolling  like  that 
of  a  hound  afflicted  with  thirst.  She,  also,  has  a  neck- 
lace of  human  skulls ;  and  the  liands  of  her  victims  are 
suspended  from  her  waist.  The  religious  worship  of 
Hindostan  is  a  horrible  exhibition,  the  result  of  the  ab- 
ject slavery  and  subjugation  of  the  intellect,  suggested 
h'.rgely   by  the   natnral  phenomena,  climate   and   other 


Theology  and  Mythology.  65 

forces  tliat  operated  upon  tlie  Oriental  inind.  Traces  of 
bloody  and  ferocious  character  in  the  religion  of  the 
Hindus  were  plainly  discernible  up  to  within  a  very  re- 
cent period. 

Grecian  literature,  mythology  and  worship  preserit  a 
strong  contrast  to  the  literature,  mythology  and  worship 
of  India,  but  not  stronger  than  the  contrast  presented 
between  the  natural  phenomena  of  Greece  and  Hindo- 
stan.  In  India  the  vastness  of  natural  phenomena  and 
the  constant  recurrence  of  unforeseen  calamities  intimi- 
dated man  and  retarded  his  intellectual  development. 
No  similar  condition  of  things,  existed  in  Greece.  The 
climate  is  genial  and  salubrious.  Its  mountains,  while 
sufficiently  lofty  to  inspire  a  feeling  of  grandeur,  inspire 
210  terror.  Great  convulsions  of  nature  are  almost  un- 
known. The  seas  that  lave  its  coasts  are  placid,  and 
dotted  with  pleasant  islands.  Yines  whose  generous 
vintage  quickened  the  blood  and  stimulated  physical  and 
mental  activity  clad  every  hill.  Wild  beasts  were  neither 
so  numerous  nor  ferocioias  as  in  India.  Nature  did  not 
appall  man  nor  subdue  his  intellect,  but  kindly,  with 
moderate  labor,  yielded  him  generous  sustenance.  The 
imagination  was  controlled  by  reason  and  was  unawed 
by  phenomena  which  ruder  races  woidd  have,-in  their 
ignorance,  deemed  supernatural.  Keversing  the  Jewish 
thcogony,  the  Greelc  created  his  gods  in  his  own  image 
and  likeness.  ,IIe  brouo-ht  the  jrods  down  to  earth  and 
elevated  to  high  Olympus  the  heroes  of  humanity.  No 
licrriblo  and  disgusting  representations  of  the  divinities 
disfigured  Grecian  temples  and  shrines.  The  good  and 
the  beautiful — r6  xaXov  xai  TO  ayaOov — were  sj-mbolized 
in   tlie  noblest  conceptions  of  a  cultivated  intellc(;t  and 


OG  Theology  and  Mythology. 

poetic  imagination.  They  neither  exposed  their  chil- 
dren to  perish  on  the  rivers'  banks  nor  "  made  them  to 
pass  through  the  lire,"'  like  some  of  the  Eastern  races. 
Kronos  or  Time  was  the  father  of  the  gods.  Tie  indeed 
devom-cd  his  children  ;  bnt  this  probably  was  only  a  f\in- 
ciful  expression  of  the  truism  that  time  devours  all  things 
( Tein20us  oinniuvx  edax).  The  chief  divinities  were  Zeus 
(Jupiter-Juvans  -Pater,  or  helping  father),  the  god  of 
heaven;  Poesseidon  (jSTeptunc),  the  god  of  the  seas;  and 
Pluto,  the  god  of  Hades.  Human  sacrifices  were  un- 
known among  them  in  the  days  of  their  civilization; 
though  probably  this  bloody  and  debasing  mode  of  wor- 
ship may  have  disgraced  their  early  histor}^,  as  the  story 
of  the  sacrifice  of  Iphigenia  in  Aulis  would  seem  to  indi- 
cate. The  Greek  apotheosized  his  own  conceptions  and 
ascribed  to  his  gods  and  goddesses  the  passions,  virtues 
and  vices  of  men  and  women.  Courage  was  deified  in 
Mars,  the  god  of  war ;  music,  poetry  and  culture  in 
Apollo.  Hermes  instructed  in  oratory  and  in  the  grace- 
ful physical  exercises  of  the  Pselestra.  Bacchus,  or  Evias 
(probably  derived  from  euuiod),  was  the  good-natured 
god  of  wine  and  revelry.  Vulcan,  whom  some  have 
identified  as  the  Tubal-Cain  of  the  Eible,  was  the  god  of 
blacksmiths  ;  he  fashioned  the  sword  and  the  plowshare. 
Divine  honors  were  equally  divided  with  the  fair  sex. 
HjBra,  or  Juno,  spouse  and  sister  of  Jupiter,  was  queen 
of  heaven  and  the  patroness  of  married  women.  Athene^ 
or  Minerva,  sprang  panoplied  from  the  brain  of  Jupiter. 
She  was  the  goddess  of  wisdom  and  instructed  women  in 
the  industrious  arts,  rendering  them  skillful  in  the  labors 
of  the  loom  and  in  the  use  of  the  spindle  and  distaff. 
Diana,  cold  and  chaste,  a  huntress,  folloM'cd  the  chase  in 


Theology  and  Mythology.  G7 

dark  woods,  attended  by  fair  virgins,  and,  secluded  from 
rude  eyes,  bathed  in  tlie  sparkling  mountain  stream. 
Venus  Aphrodite,  who  rose  from  the  foam  of  the  sea, 
was  the  goddess  of  beauty,  love  and  passion.  Nor  were 
her  amours  and  intrigues  confined  to  the  ambrosial- 
eating  gods.  Naturally  enongh,  Eros  or  Cupid — both 
terms  signifying  desire — was  her  son.  Ceres,  grand  and 
beneficent,  protected  the  growing  crops.  There  was,  be- 
sides, an  almost  limitless  number  of  gods  and  goddesses 
and  heroes  and  heroines,  some  of  whom  were  converted 
into  constellations  in  heaven,  who  occupied  an  inferior 
position  in  Grecian  mythology ;  resembling  in  some 
respects  the  angelic  hosts  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  and 
the  numerous  saints  of  the  Catholic  Church.  But  while 
the  winged  messengers  of  Jehovah  were  solemn,  sedate 
and  austere  personages,  the  satellites  of  Jupiter  were 
eminently  sociable  and  frequently  hilarious  in  their  in- 
'tercourse  with  humanity.  "  By  the  exercise  of  his  intel- 
lectual powers  the  Greek  elevated  and  deified  humanity. 
His  worship  of  the  gods  did  not  take  the  form  of  abject 
and  slavish  terror."  When  he  met  a  god  even,  contend- 
ing in  battle  against  him,  he  bravely  struggled  for  vic- 
tory. To  reverence  one's  self  {cci8Ei6Qai  deavrov)  was  a 
fundamental  maxim  of  his  education.  Influenced  by  this 
ennobling  teaching,  the  Greek  attained  the  highest  men- 
tal and  physical  development,  and  elevated  the  heroes  of 
his  race  to  divine  honors.  This  never  could  have  resulted 
had  the  imagination  of  Greece  attributed  to  her  deities 
the  bloody  and  inhuman  attributes  of  the  gods  of  India. 
Hero-worship  was  unknown  to  tlio  ancient  religion  of 
India,  and  there  is  no  trace  of  it  in  Egyptian  mythology. 
Herodotus    savs    that    the    Persians    differed   from    the 


C8  Theology  a?id  Mythology. 

Greeks,  inflsmncli  as  they  did  not  suppose  tlic  gods  to 
liave  forms  like  men.  These  wide  differences  and  di- 
vergence of  reh'gious  conceptions  tend  to  support  the 
assumption  that  no  true  conception  of  the  nature  and 
attributes  of  the  God  of  the  Universe  was,  at  any  time, 
communicated  to  the  primitive  races  of  tlie  earth,  and 
favor  the  hypothesis  that  m.an's  religious  ideas  in  the 
dawn  of  his  civilization  were,  in  a  great  measure,  if  not 
wholly,  suggested  by  the  phenomena  that  surrounded 
him.  The  ultimate  Ijappiness  of  tlie  Hindu,  the  very 
best  thing  that  could  happen  to  liim,  as  he  believed,  wjis 
final  extinction,  in  which  there  was  no  place  for  either 
hopes  or  fears,  pleasures  or  pains,  mental  or  physical 
exertion  ;  where  neither  sun  nor  moon  nor  star  rose  or 
set — a  solemn  condition  of  silence  and  darkness,  a  realm 
of  final  and  perfect  nothingness — this  ho  named  Nir- 
wana.  Many  indications  of  the  apprehension  of  final 
extinction  by  death  may  be  found  both  in  the  book  of 
Job  and  in  Ecclesiastes,  as  well  as  scattered  through  the 
older  Hebrew  writings.  Job  says  to  his  "  Comforters  "  : 
"  Are  not  mj^  days  few  ?  Cease,  then,  and  let  me  alone, 
that  I  may  take  comfort  a  little,  before  I  go  whence  I 
shall  not  return,  even  to  the  land  of  darkness  and  the 
shadow  of  death,  a  land  of  darkness  as  darkness  itself 
and  of  the  shadow  of-  death,  without  any  order,  and 
where  tlie  light  is  as  darkness  !"  The  grand  simplicity 
of  the  religious  ideas  of  the  Indians  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can continent  is,  as  we  regard  it,  the  natural  result  of 
the  simplicity  of  the  lives  and  occupation  of  the  aborig- 
ines. They  lived  almost  solely  by  the  chase  ;  vast  and 
unbroken  prairies  suggested  ideas  of  unity,  continuity 
and  imnicnsity.     They  had  to  struggle  for  existence  v.ith 


Theology  and  Mythology .  09 

no  savage  monsters.  The  deer,  elk,  bufi'alo  and  bear 
■were  easily  slain.  Thcj  had  no  savage  gods,  in  conse- 
quence, to  appease.  Hence  sacrificial  offerings  and  an 
organized  priesthood  -were  unknown.  They  entertained 
dim  and  indefinite  conceptions  of  a  great  Spirit,  and 
their  future  heaven  consisted  of  happy  hunting  grounds 
where  erame  was  abundant.  The  case  of  the  Mexican 
Indians  is  an  exception,  but  susceptible  of  explanation 
consistent  with  our  hypothesis.  The  savage  Goth  of 
Northern  Europe,  whose  life  was  passed  in  robbing,  ra- 
pine and  battle,  entertained  religious  perceptions  evolved 
from  his  own  experience  and  suggested  by  his  brutalizing 
environments.  His  heaven  was  a  place  of  carousal  where 
he  quaffed  strong  drink  from  the  skulls  of  his  enemies 
slain  in  battle.  He  was  not  very  far  WTong  who,  invert- 
ing the  aphorism,  declared  that  "an  honest  god  is  the 
noblest  work  of  man." 

To  investigate  to  what  extent  man's  religious  ideas 
have*bcen  suggested  by  the  circumstances  of  his  life  and 
environments  would  be  equally  interesting  and  important 
in  its  bearing  on  modern  theology,  but  is  beyond  this 
inquiry  that  precludes  more  than  a  passing  allusion  to 
tiic  subject. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

When  the  spread  of  Christianity  began  first  to  at- 
tract  some  attention,  tlic  religions  system  of  Home  avus 
rapidly  undergoing  the  process  of  disintegration.  The 
roof  of  the  superstructure  had  grown  too  heavy  for  the 
columns  that  sustained  it.  Tliough  the  temples  of  the 
gods  were  still  thronged  Avith  ostensible  worshipers, 
though  the  altars  still  smoked  with  incense,  though  the 
favorite  oracles  were  still  consulted,  and  though  the 
priesthood  still  bore  the  emblems  of  authority,  yet  the 
worship  of  the  gods,  once  sacred  and  decent,  liad  fallen 
into  licentiousness  and  revelry.  The  philosophers,  poets, 
orators  and  historical  writers  of  Rome,  though  outwardly  . 

conforming  to  tjic  popular  worsliip,  secretly  despised  and  J 
ridiculed  it.  They  liad  lost  all  faith  in  the  religious  sys-  V 
tern  that  survived  its  usefulness.  Four  hundred  vears 
B.  C,  Socrates  Avas,  according  to  legal  form,  murdered, 
cliarged  with  corrupting  the  youth  by  teaching  that  there 
were  no  gods.  lie  drank  his  hemlock,  as  a  pliilosopher 
and  good  citizen  should,  when  so  ordered  by  the  state. 

The  poison  drank  in  his  quiet  prison  cell  by  the  best 
and  grandest  of  all  tlic  sons  that  Greece  has  given  to 


I 

I 


Thculogy  and  MijtholcKjy.  71 

huinanitj  and  immortality  accomplished  its  mission.  It 
taught,  by  a  single  expression,  a  lesson  that  dignified  not 
only  the  Grecian  character  but  our  common  humanity. 
No  more  beautiful  picture  has  been  given  to  the  world 
than  that  drawn  ia  the  matchless  prose  of  Xenophon, 
giving  us  a  view  of  Socrates  the  Teacher,  after  his  con- 
demnation, quietly  discoursing  with  his  disciples  on  the 
great  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  as  thougli 
lie  stood,  free  as  the  air  of  free  Greece,  in  the  pleasant 
groves  of  Academus.  His  disciples  who  loved  him  hung 
with  reverence  upon  the  words  that  fell  from  their  jnas- 
ter  and  teacher.  More  to  them  were  they  than  the  ora- 
cles of  the  gods  he  had  argued  out  of  existence.  Men  of 
tlic  highest  reputation  and  most  honorable  position  in 
the  state  gathered  about  him.  They  urged  him  to  fly. 
They  besought  him  not  to  permit  the  ingratitude  of  a 
base  rabble  to  rob  the  world  of  his  services.  They  rep- 
resented that  many  cities  would  contend  for  the  honor  of 
receiving  him  after  his  flight  from  thankless  Athens  that 
could  offer  him  nothing  better  than  a  cup  of  cold  hem- 
lock. But  the  arguments  and  entreaties  of  his  friends 
moved  him  as  little  as  the  spray  of  the  surf  falling  upon 
the  cliff  moves  the  rock-bound  shore.  He  knew  tliat  it 
was  his  duty  as  a  citizen  to  obey  the  laws,  and  therefore 
lie  deliberately  preferred  death  to  fliglit.  It  lias  been 
said  that  "  Socrates  died  like  a  philosopher,  but  Jesus 
died  like  a  god."  It  would  be  well  in  considering  this 
language  to  bear  in  mind  that  it  was  not  Socrates  that 
said,  in  view  of  death,  "  Father,  let  this  cup  pass  from 
me."  When  Greece  had  giv^en  to  the  world  even  one 
heroic  soul  who  scorned  life  purcliased  by  the  sacrifice 
of  principle,  wlio   embraced  death   as  gladly  as  a  tired 


'i'^  Theology  cuid  Mythology. 

traveler  welcomes  rest  and  sleep  at  the  end  of  a  lono- 
day's  joiirnej,  she  demonstrated  the  lieight  man  is  capa- 
ble of  attaining  when  his  intellect  is  emancipated  from 
the  slavery  of  superstition.  But  the  spirit  of  religious 
persecution  was  foreign  to  the  Grecian  cliaracter,  and 
the  death  of  Socrates  on  account  of  his  reliirious  teaching- 
may  be  considered  exceptional.  While  sacrilege  and 
impiety  were- punishable  both  at  Athens  and  Rome, 
yet,  generally,  the  utmost  liberality  of  thought  and  ex- 
pression was  freely  tolerated.  The  religions  of  both 
Greece  and  Italy  had  no  fixed  metes  or  bounds.  They 
were  both  constantly  enlarging  the  number  of  gods  and 
licrocs  to  whom  divine  worship  was  paid.  Not  long 
after  the  increase  of  Cin-istianity  it  was  proposed  at 
Rome  to -add  the  name  of  Jesus  to  the  number  of  the 
lesser  divinities,  and  the  measure  contemplated  was  only 
defeated  by  a  technical  objection  on  the  part  of  the 
Senate. 

The  Jewish  people  —  an  important  branch  of  the 
Semitic  race — had,  long  previous  to  the  advent  of  Christ, 
fallen  into  a  position  of  almost  complete  political  insig- 
nificance. Israel,  neitlier  by  its  conquests,  literature  nor 
political  system  had  made  any  impression  npon  the 
world.  Its  history  had  been  neither  splendid  nor  re- 
markable. Its  national  unity  was  of  very  brief  dm-ation. 
Secession  had  rent  it  in  twain.  It  suffered  the  fate  of 
all  divided  people  of  a  common  origin  devastated  by 
fratricidal  and  foreign  wars.  It  had  repeatedly  fallen 
under  the  dominion  of  the  invader ;  and,  saddest  of  all 
in  the  history  of  any  race,  had  twice  suffered  deportation 
from  its  own  land,  bearing  the  yoke  of  captivity  atnong 
strangers.     The  literature  of  no  people  contains  a  wail  of 


V 


Theology-  and  Mythology.  73 

bitterer  and  more  sonl-piercliig  misery  than  is  found  in  the 
Lamentations  of  Jeremiah.  To  what  a  terrible  condi- 
tion of  national  prostration  had  tiiis  ancient  race  been 
reduced  when  the  strongest  of  their  poets,  Jeremiah, 
could  thus  pour  out  his  heart  in  gall :  "  Tlie  liands  of 
the  pitiful  women  have  sodden  their  own  children.  They 
were  their  meat  in  the  destruction  of  the  daughter  of  my 
people.  .  .  .Our  persecutors  are  swifter  than  the  eagles 
of  heaven.  They  pursued  us  upon  the  mountains  and 
laid  wait  for  us  in  the  Avilderness.  .  .  .Tlemember,  O 
Lord !  wliat  is  come  upon  us ;  consider  and  behold  our 
reproach.  Our  inheritance  is  turned  to  strangers,  our 
houses  to  jdiens.  We  are  orphans  and  fatherless,  our 
mothers  are  as  widows.  We  have  drunken  our  water 
for  money  ;  our  wood  is  sold  unto  us.  Oar  necks  arc 
under  persecution ;  we  labor  and  have  no  rest.  We 
have  given  the  hand  to  the  Egyptians  and  to  the  Assyri- 
ans to  be  satisfied  with  bread.  Our  fathers  have  sinned 
and  are  not ;  and  we  have  borne  their  iniquities.  Serv- 
ants have  ruled  over  us ;  there  is  none  that  doth  deliver 
us  out  of  their  hand.  We  get  our  bread  with  the  peril  of 
our  lives,  because  of  the  sword  of  the  wilderness.  Our 
skin  was  black  like  an  oven,  because  of  the  terrible  fam- 
ine. They  ravished  the  women  in  Zion  and  the  maids 
in  the  cities  of  Judah.  Princes  arc  hanged  up  by  their 
liand ;  the  faces  of  elders  were  not  honored.  They 
took  the  young  men  to  grind,  and  the  children  fell  under 
the  wood.  The  elders  have  ceased  from  the  gate,  the 
young  men  from  their  music.  The  joy  of  our  heart  is 
ceased  ;  our  dance  is  turned  into  mourning.  The  crown 
is  fallen  from  our  head  ;  woe  unto  us  that  we  have  sinned. 
For  this  our  heart  is  faint;  fur  these  things  our  eyes  are 


74:  Theology  and  Mythology. 

dim.  Because  of  the  mountain  of  Zion  which  is  dcsohite 
the  foxes  walk  upon  it."  Yet  when  Israel  had  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  her  enemies ;  W'hen  her  altars  were 
polluted,  her  niagniiicent  temple  razed  to  the  ground, 
her  priests  slain  and  her  prophets  hiding  in  the  wilder- 
ness or  in  mountain  caverns — even  then  she  had  not 
wholly  lost  faith  in  her  destiny ;  she  cherished  the  hope 
that  the  Jehovah  who  had  brought  her  out  of  the  laud  of 
Egypt  would  at  last  restore  her  to  the  possession  of  a 
land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey.  Even  when  crushed 
to  earth  by  suffering,  "  eating  the  bread  of  bitterness  and 
drinking  the  w'ater  of  affliction,"  seeing  her  national  ex- 
istence passing  awa}^  she  still  indulged  in  dreams  of  the 
coming  Messiah,  not  in  the  character  of  a  moral  teacher, 
but  as  a  conqueror,  prince  and  deliverer.  The  Koman 
conquest  of  Judea  had  given  the  death  blow  to  this  ex- 
pectation, though  even  after  this  event  there  were  not 
wanting  a  few  enthusiasts  ambitious  to  enact  the  role  of 
a  Messiah.  The  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Jews  was  the  possession  of  the  monotheistic 
idea.  Tlie  worship  of  the  "  I  am,"  though  disfigured  by 
sacrificial  service,  elevated  the  Israelites  above  the  con- 
temporaneous and  contiguous  races.  It  must,  however, 
be  observed  that  monotheism  was  never  popular.  To 
the  Israelite  wdio  sighed  for  participation  in  the  idola- 
trous worship  of  the  nations  that  surrounded  him,  Jeho- 
vah was  only  a  god  superior  to  gods  of  the  neighboring 
races.  Even  Moses  failed  to  grasp  monotheism  in  all  its 
solitary  grandeur.  lie  represented  Jehovah  as  a  jealous 
god,  not  giving  his  glory  to  another,  greater  and  mightier 
tluin  the  gods  of  the  surrounding  nations,  whose  power 
was  also  recognized  and  feared.     So  well  aware  were 


Theology  and  Mythology.  75 

the  spiritual  rulers  of  the  Jews  of  the  tendency  of  the 
people  to  lapse  into  gross  idolatry  on  the  slighest  provo- 
cation, that  they  prohibited  the  making  of  any  graven 
image,  or  the  likeness  of  anything  in  the  heavens  above, 
or  in  the  earth  beneath,  or  in  the  waters  under  the  earth. 
Though  by  this  singular  prohibition,  one  of  the  noblest 
of  arts  remained  undeveloped  among  the  Jews,  yet  the 
spiritual  idea — of  probably  more  importance — received 
greater  strength  and  held  the  people  with  a  more  endur- 
ing tenacity  of  grasp.  ISTo  religious  idea,  except  accom- 
panied in  its  expression  by  rites  and  ceremonies,  can  ever 
become  popular.  Men  of  culture  will,  no  doubt,  derive 
more  pleasure  from  the  contemplation  of  the  attributes 
of  a  supreme  intelligence  than  they  would  from  material 
representations  or  distortions  of  the  divine  principle. 
To  them  the  conviction  of  reason  and  experience  that  the 
universe  is  governed  by  law  affords  more  satisfaction 
tlian  could  be  derived  from  scenic  representations,  cur- 
tained shrines  hiding  the  awful  presence  of  a  god,  per- 
fumed incense,  altars  reeking  with  sacrificial  blood, 
smoke  of  burnt  offerings  ascending  in  circling  wreaths, 
pale-faced  priests  magMificently  arrayed,  bells"  and  breast- 
])lates  on  which  strange  devices  appear,  lighted  tapers 
and  sounding  waves  of  voluminous  music.  This  is  priest- 
craft, and  tliis  it  is  that  enslaves  the  multitude. 

The  seer,  when  he  desired  to  put  his  soul  in  commu- 
nion with  heaven,  dream  dreams  weird  and  wild,  see 
those  visions  that  silenced  the  pulsation  of  his  heart,  hear 
the  voice  of  God  in  the  reeds  shaken  with  the  wind,  or 
in  the  cataract  leaping  down  the  mountain  side,  went  far 
apart  from  the  din  and  bustle  of  busy  life.  He  went  out 
into  tlie  Jiowliuir  wilderness;    he  stood  on   the  lonely 


76  Theology  and  Mythology. 

crag;  he  wept,  he  prayed,  he  fasted.  Exliaustion  fell 
upon  him.  The  heat  by  day  oppressed  him,  the  dews  of 
night  chilled  him.  lie  struggled  with  his  own  nature  as 
he  would  with  a  savage  beast  that  sought  to  rend  him. 
His  physical  energies  succumbed  to  watching  and  fast- 
ing. Imagination  overshadowed  reason.  Then  it  was, 
in  ecstatic  condition,  that  he  stood  before  kings  and 
rulers,  and  hurled  his  fierce  denunciations  against  the 
enemies  of  Israel  and  Jehovah.  In  estimating  the  char- 
a'cter  of  Hebraistic  theology  we  muat  bear  in  mind  that 
the  influence  of  the  prophets  was  even  paramount  to  that 
of  the  priesthood.  The  "seers"  {nabi '\x\  \X\q  Semitic) 
were  essentially  the  champions  of  the  people,  denouncing 
alike,  oftentimes,  kingcraft  and  priestcraft.  Samuel,  the 
first  of  the  seers,  exercised  undisputed  sway.  He  was 
the  great  king-maker  in  Israel.  Yielding  to  the  popular 
cry,  he  allowed  the  people  to  adopt  the  regal  form  of 
government.  He  himself  made  the  selection,  and,  con- 
sidering that  he  was  under  Divine  guidance,  his  choice 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  very  happy  one,  either 
for  himself,  Jehovah  or  the  people.  Samuel  was  jealous 
of  the  power  of  Saul,  and  continually  urged  him  to  the 
performance  of  tasks  full  of  danger  and  difficulty.  The 
humane  refusal  of  Saul  to  carry  out  to  the  bitter  end  the 
entire  destruction  of  Amalek  furnished  the  prophet  with 
a  coveted  opportunity  of  withdraw^ing  his  support  from 
Saul. 

Repeatedly  throughout  Jewish  history  we  find  the 
prophets  arraying  their  influence  against  the  kings.  The 
theocratic  idea  was  inimical  to  the  interests  of  royalty. 
Under  the  rule  of  the  prophets,  Israel  had  no  military 
strenirth.     Neither  had  she  commercial  intercourse  and 


Theology  and  Mythology.  77 

exchange  with  the  nations   of  the   earth.     So   complete 
was  the  political  servitude  of  the  people  that,  in  the  time 
of  Samuel,  Saul  and  his  son  Jonathan  were  the  only  men 
in  all  Israel  who  possessed  either  sword  or  spear.    There 
was  not  even  a  blacksmith  in  all  the  land  ;  when  a  Jew 
desired  to  have  a  plowshare,  coulter,  ax  or  mattock,  he 
had  to  go  to  the  Philistines  to  have  this  work  performed. 
Wonderful  to  relate,  they  did  possess  a  file,  as  we  are 
informed,  "yet  they  had  a  file  for  the  mattocks  and  for 
the  coulters  and  for  the  forks  and  for  the  axes  to  sharpen 
the  goads."     The  abler  rulers  of  the  people   sought  to 
wean  them  from  tlie  theocratic  idea,  and  tried  to  teach 
them  that  their  independence  as  a  nation  was  to  be  ob- 
tained and  pres(!rved  rather  by  the  creation  of  a  disci- 
plined  armed  force  than  by  reliance  upon  supernatural 
interferences.     Though   they  never  rudely  shocked  the 
religious  sentiment  by  any  abnegation  of  the  influence  of 
Jehovah,   yet,   practically,   they  ignored    it   when  they 
counted  their  forces  on   enterins:  into  a  war  with  otlier 
races.     David,  a  man  of  war  from  his  youth,  appreciated 
the  efficacy  of  a  well  equipped  and  disciplined  force.     To 
ascertain  the  military  strength  of  the  people,  he  ordered 
a  census  to  be  taken.     Tliis  enlightened  measure  of  in- 
ternal policy  at   once  provoked  the  hostility  and  bitter 
denunciation  of  the  prophet  who  was  sent  specially  by 
Jehovah  to  pronounce  divine  condemnation  of  this  impi- 
ous presumption.     By  enumerating  the  people  and  ascer- 
taining the  military  strength  of  the  nation,  David  was 
blasphemously  ignoring  the  efficacy  of  the   outstretched 
arm  of  Jehovah,  who  had  brought  his  children  through 
the  Ked  Sea  without  wetting  the  soles  of  their  feet,  who 
had  caused  the  sun  and  the  moon  to  stand  still  for  their 


78  Theology  and  Mythology. 

Siikes,  who  had  rained  down  stones  from  heaven  upon 
their  enemies,  who  had  driven  out  before  them  the  iu- 
liabitauts  of  tlic  mountains,  though  "  he  could  not  drive 
out  the  inhabitants  of  the  valley,  because  they  had  cliari- 
ots  of  iron  "  (Judges  i,  19).  David,  in  recognizing  the 
fact,  like  a  great  captain  of  modern  times,  that  "  God 
fought  witli  the  strongest  battalion,"  was  guilty  of  un- 
pardonable iniidelity.  He  was  punished  for  this  wicked- 
ness of  his  by  tlie  destruction  of  seventy  tliousand  of  the 
people  by  a  pestilence ;  which  seems  a  little  conflicting 
with  any  rational  view  of  divine  justice.  We  are  not 
helped  much  towards  any  solution  of  this  enigma  of  Di- 
vine dealing  with  his  creatures  by  being  informed  in  the 
opening  of  the  narrative  that  "  again  the  anger  of  the 
Lord  was  kindled  against  Israel,  and  ho  moved  David 
jigainst  them,  saying,  Go  number  Israel  and  Judah."  It 
would  seem,  at  lirst  glance,  to  the  poor  uninspired  crea- 
ture who  exercises  the  reasonins;  faculties  that  distinsfuisli 
him  from  the  brute,  that  this  proceeding  smacks  a  little 
both  of  injustice  and  hypocrisy.  If  the  God  of  the  Uni- 
verse wished  to  punish  the  Jews  by  carrying  off  seventy 
tliousand  of  them  by  pestilence,  or  in  any  other  way 
equally  agreeable  to  his  feelings,  it  is  within  the  bounds 
of  probability  to  imagine  that  he  could  have  done  so — 
rind  we  proceed  further  to  assert  that  he  ought  to  have 
done  so — without  descending  to  a  miserable  subterfuge 
like  the  one  here  narrated.  It  Avill  not  do  to  tell  us  that 
God's  notions  of  justice  are  difiorent  from  ours.  No 
sanction  of  God  can  make  a  lie  as  respectable  as  the 
truth.  No  divine  approval  of  hypocrisy  can  make  it 
one  of  the  virtues.  A  lie  and  a  subterfuiro  attributed  to 
Jehovah  are  more  infamous  than  wlien  co:nino^  from  the 


Theology  and  2'njthology .  79 

apocryphnl  Devil  M'liom  the  Scriptures  style  the  "  father 
of  lies,"  though  they  have  never  fastened  the  parentage 
of  one  npon  him.  The  Hebrew  story  of  the  creation 
tells  us  that  it  was  Satan,  not  Jehovah,  w^ho  told  "our 
first  parents  "  that  eating  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowl- 
edge would  make  them  "as  gods,  knowing  good  and 
evil,"  and  never  did  a  god  or  demon  utter  a  prediction 
that  has  been  so  gloriously  verified. 

Solomon,  too,  sought  to  break  down  the  barriers  of 
exclusiveness  that  the  theocratic  policy  of  Judaism  had 
erected.  He  made,  despite  the  denunciations  of  the 
prophets,  matrimonial  alliances  with  Egypt ;  and,  as  tlie 
number  of  his  recognized  wives  amounted  to  about  three 
hundred,  it  is  probable  that  his  selections  extended  to 
every  race  and  nation  with  which  he  came  in  contact. 
The  Queen  of  Sheba,  who  appears  to  have  been  a  lady 
of  equal  independence  of  thought  and  action,  visited  the 
greatest  ruler  the  Jewish  race  ever  knew,  and  doubtless 
had  the  sphere  of  her  knowledge  and  experience  in- 
creased by  contact  with  this  wise  king  and  man  of  cos- 
mopolitan views.  Hiram,  king  of  Tyre,  brought  him 
gold  from  Ophir ;  and  Solomon  dispatched  a  navy  to 
Tavshish,  in  companj'-  with  one  of  Hiram's  fleets,  which 
returned,  after  a  three  years'  cruise,  bringing  back  "gold 
and  silver,  ivory,  apes  and  peacocks." 

Previous  to  the  time  of  Solomon  the  Israelites  were 
satisfied  with  the  worship  of  Jehovah,  celebrated  with 
little,  if  any,  external  pomp.  The  humble  ark  in  Avhich 
their  God  once  dwelt  was  carried  about  with  them  from 
place  to  place,  as  the  shifting  fortunes  of  the  race  ren- 
dered necessary.  They  even  brought  it  into  battle  with 
them  ;  and  on  one  occasion  it  was  captured  by  the  Phil- 


80  Theology  and  Mythology. 

istines  and  placed  in  the  house  of  the  god  Dagon.  Solo- 
mon, having  doubtless  seen  the  magnificent  structures  of 
the  Egyptians,  was  induced  to  build  an  imposing  temple 
to  the  tutelary  divinity  of  his  own  race  at  Jerusalem, 
and,  alas  !  introduced  the  worship  of  foreign  deities. 
He  is  presumably  the  author  of  a  very  amorous  poem, 
smacking  of  licentious  flavor,  called  the  "  Song  of  Solo- 
mon." It  is  pruriently  sensual  in  many  of  its  passages. 
This,  however,  has  not  deterred  Christians  from  classing 
it  among  the  "  inspired  "  works  of  revelation.  They  even 
proceed  further,  and,  regardless  of  decency  of  compari- 
son, assert  that  this  grossly  impure  and  immoral  effusion 
is  a  finely-wrought  description  of  the  love  existing  be- 
tween Christ  the  bridegroom  and  the  Church  the  bride  ! 
The  idea  is  one  calculated  to  excite  disgust !  Fancy  for 
a  moment  this  roj'al  debauchee,  who  never  restrained  a 
licentious  passion  or  impulse,  whose  seraglio  M'as  filled 
with  a  thousand  wom.eu,  under  the  guise  of  a  love-song 
portra,ying  the  character  of  the  poor  despised  and  cruci- 
fied Nazarene,  whose  figure,  standing  on  the  pedestal  of 
nineteen  hundred  years,  has  thrown  its  shadow  over  half 
the  world ! 

Solomon,  too,  endeavored  to  assimilate  the  Jewish 
policy  to  that  of  the  partially  civilized  nations  surround- 
ing them.  They  were  behind  the  latter  in  political  in- 
stitutions, in  military  efficiency,  in  literature,  and  in  the 
peaceful  pursuits  of  agriculture,  trade  and  commerce, 
lie  even  adoj^ted  for  a  time  the  religious  worship  of  his 
powerful  ally  Egypt.  But  the  spirit  of  resistance  to  all 
innovation,  instigated  by  the  prophets,  as  usual,  proved 
too  strong  for  him.  They  despised  all  literature,  art 
and  culture — so  much  so  that  the  making  of  a  graven 


Theology  and  Mythology.  81 

image  was  a  sin  against  God.     Tliey  constantly  insisted 
that  Jehovah  had  forever  separated  his  children  from  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  that  awful  vengeance  and 
litter  extinction  would  inevitably  follow  any  attempt  at 
departure  from  the  Divine  command.     Tlieir   religion 
was  the  most  exclusive  on  earth.     They  neither  sought 
nor    desired   converts   to    their  faith.     Their   God  was 
mightier  and  greater  than  all  gods :  he  was  God  of  gods 
and  Lord  of  lords,  King  of  kings.     Into  the  Holiest  of 
Holies,  where  He  dwelt,  the  great  high-priest  entered 
once  a  year,  unaccompanied  by  mortal,  and  what  he  saw 
and  heard  there  was  never  revealed  to  the  vulgar ;  he 
even  veiled  his  face  when  he  came  out  from  the  awful 
interview  with  Jehovah,  lest  the  glory  reflected  on  his 
face  should  strike  the  multitude  stone  dead.   Tlie  Jewish 
race  has  not  yet  forgotten  the  impressions  made  in  its 
infancy.     For  five  thousand  years  it  has  with  jealous 
care  preserved  its   worship    of  Jehovah,   the  monothe- 
istic idea,  and  the  sacred  skeleton  of  theocratic  govern- 
ment.    It  looks  witli  ineffable  disdain  upon  the  modern 
distortion  of  its  religion   in   the   Christian    faith.     The 
doctrines  of  the   Trinity,  tlie  divinity  of  Jesus,  and  tlie 
salvation  of  the  world  through  his  blood,  are  to  it  as  re- 
pulsive and  foreign  at  present  as  were  of  old  the  mythol- 
ogies of  Egypt,  Assyria  and  Greece. 


PART    II. 

CHAPTEK  I. 

Christianiti',  as  a  pliase  of  the  history  of  the  Imman 
]-ace,  is  wonderful  in  all  its  aspects.  It  lias  inseparably 
interwoven  itself  for  two  thousand  years  with  tlie  exist- 
ence of  nations  and  individuals.  It  is  difncult  to  be  just 
to  this  great  factor  in  the  civilization  of  mankind.  It 
has  often  filled  the  earth  with  blood ;  it  has,  too,  incul- 
cated noble  lessons  of  charity.  It  has  dwarfed  intellect- 
ual growth ;  it  has  also  made  the  burdens  of  life  more 
tolerable  by  opening  up  vistas  of  .everlasting  happiness. 
It  has  roasted  over  slow  fires  men  of  free  thought  and 
free  speech,  and  reddened  scaffolds  with  innocent  blood ; 
but  it  has  sometimes  stood  as  a  barrier  between  the 
mailed  oppressors  and  robbers  and  their  defenseless  serfs. 
It  has  domineered  over  the  conscience  of  the  individual ; 
but  it  has  elevated  marriage  to  the  dignity  of  a  holy 
sacrament.  It  lias  often  usurped  authority  in  the  state 
and  set  the  priest  above  the  king  ;  but  it  has  also  estab- 
lislicd  hospitals  for  the  sick,  and  entered  lazar  houses, 


84  Theology  and  Mythology. 

like  an  angel  of  liglit,  to  carry  the  consolations  of  relig- 
ion to  plague-smitten  dying  men.  It  lias  been  insatiable 
and  unscrupulous  in  the  acquisition  of  wealth  ;  but  it  has 
built  magnificent  temples,  ornamented  with  the  glorious 
trophies  of  art,  for  the  poor.  It  has  shut  mea  up  in  hor- 
rible dungeons  and  tortured  them  for  daring  to  enunciate 
an  astronomical  truth ;  but  it  has  braved  every  species 
of  suffering  and  privation  in  carrying  what  it  believed  to 
be  Divine  truth  to  savages  across  stormy  seas.  It  has 
denied  to  believers  the  right  of  the  exercise  of  reason  in 
matters  of  faith ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  it  has  relieved 
both  educated  and  uneducated  from  the  trouble  and  an- 
guish of  barren  and  profitless  speculations.  It  has  peo- 
pled hell  with  human  souls  suffering  endless  torture;  but 
it  has  proclaimed  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  It  has 
degraded  personal  respect  by  flagellations  and  penances ; 
but  it  has  apotheosized  sufifering  in  the  person  of  tlie 
crucified  Nazarene. 

The  Reformation  has  atoned  for  many  ecclesiastical 
cruelties,  open  and  secret,  individual  and  ofiicial.  To 
the  monkish  drones  of  the  Middle  Ages  is  the  world  in- 
debted for  the  preservation  of  many  noble  and  priceless 
works  of  antiquity.  .Religious  sentiment  of  some  kind 
must  associate  itself  with  every  social  system  and  indi- 
vidual life.  So  generally  admitted  is  this  statement  that 
it  has  been  sarcastically  asserted  that  if  Christianity  did 
not  exist,  it  would  be  necessary  for  the  benefit  of  the 
world  that  a  system  of  religion  similar  to  it  should  be 
invented. 

In  any  inquiry  into  the  origin  of  Christianity  and  the 
assumptions  upon  which  rest  the  record  of  the  miracles 
of  the  New  Testament,  it  must  be  admitted  that  of  indc- 


Theology  and  Mythology .  85 

pendent  testimony  we  liavc  almost  nothing.  "We  have 
no  historiciil  testimony  of  an  independent  character  con- 
temporaneous with  the  gospel  narratives.  Wo  liave  a 
very  few  doubtful  allusions  to  the  public  life  of  Jesus 
and  his  work  in  the  remains  of  one  or  two  Latin  writers 
contiguously  subsequent.  Pliny's  famous  letter  to  Tra- 
jan is  really  the  only  outside  testimony  of  the  noticeable 
growth  of  Christianity  at  a  period  not  very  far  removed 
from  the  death  of  Jesus.  Of  Jesus  Christ  himself  we 
know  nothing  except  what  may  be  gathered  from  the 
gospels  and  epistles.  In  neither  the  historical  writers  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  nor  in  any  of  the  poetical  works  ex- 
tant in  the  Greek  or  Latin  tongue  of  the  time  in  which 
Jesus  is  supposed  to  have  lived,  is  there  the  slightest  or 
remotest  allusion  to  his  existence,  his  career,  his  alleged 
miracles,  his  death,  or  his  resurrection  from  the  dead. 
Born  in  an  obscure  portion  of  the  eai'th,  never  moving 
out  of  the  province  in  which  he  passed  his  j^outh,  never 
visiting  Athens  or  Rome,  never  having  accomplished 
anything  in  literature,  philosophy,  art,  science,  arms  or 
political  life,  totally  unacquainted  with  the  great  men  of 
his  age,  it  is  within  the  bounds  of  moderation  to  assume 
that,  were  it  not  for  the  spread  of  Christianity,  the  nar- 
ratives of  the  four  evangelists  and  the  epistolary  corre- 
spondence of  the  apostles  with  the  different  churches, 
the  world  would  never  have  preserved  the  name  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth.  So  that  all  that  can  possibly  be  known 
concerning  him,  whose  name  now  is  familiar  as  the  sun- 
light in  every  household  in  every  civilized  land,  is  con- 
tained in  the  meager  story  of  his  life  and  death  to  be 
found  in  the  gospels.  All  inquiry,  then,  of  any  practical 
character  must  bo  concentrated  upon  the  gospel  story  of 


8G  Theology  and  Mythology . 

Jesus.  The  question  of  prime  importance  to  be  settled, 
and  to  which  all  others  are  subordinate,  is  that  of  tlie 
godship  of  Jesus.  AVhether  Jesus  was  a  man  of  like 
passions  with  every  other  human  being,  or  whether  he 
was  the  Euler  and  Creator  of  the  boundless  Universe, 
must  be  settled  by  every  man  before  he  can  entertain 
any  profound  and  well-settled  conviction.  There  is  no 
compromising  this  question.  It  will  not  do  to  assert 
that  he  was  the  son  of  God  in  some  higher  and  more 
mysterious  sense  than  every  gifted  creature  is  who  de- 
votes himself  to  the  elevation  of  his  race.  He  was  either 
a  man,  a  myth,  or  a  god.  It  will  not  do  to  assert  that  if 
we  believe  that  he  was  the  son  of  God,  or  if  all  the  world 
believes  it,  he  therefore  was  or  is  God.  Our  belief  or 
the  belief  of  all  the  world  will  not  alter  the  fact  one  way 
or  another.  The  inquiry  is  not  devoid  of  either  solem- 
nity or  importance.  If  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who,  two 
thousand  years  ago,  footsore  and  houseless,  went  through 
the  wheat-fields  of  Palestine  and  plucked  the  ears  to  sat- 
isfy his  hunger ;  who  sat  by  the  wayside  well  and  begged 
a  drink  of  water  from  a  poor  Samaritan  woman  of  such 
dubious  reputation  for  chastity  that  his  disciples  mar- 
veled that  he  talked  with  her ;  who  loved  Mary  and 
Martha  and  Lazarus  their  brother,  and  ever  found  a 
brother's  welcome  at  their  humble  home ;  who  constantly 
associated  w^ith  the  lowest  classes ;  whose  intimate  and 
familiar  friends  were  not  the  great,  the  gifted  and  the 
learned,  but  humble  fishermen  and  tax-collectors  of  very 
moderate  acquirements,  and  little,  if  any,  book-learning ; 
who  began  his  public  teaching — excluding  the  episode  of 
liis  appearance  in  the  temple — in  rural  hamlets,  some- 
times by  the  lake-shore,  on  the  mountain,  or  stretched 


I 


Theology  and  Mytkol-ogy.  87 

beneath  llie  lig-trec  and  olive ;  who,  after  three  years  of 
public  life,  was,  by  the  indiscreet  zeal  of  his  friends  and 
the  taunts  of  his  enemies,  pushed  forward  to  Jerusalem, 
where,  by  tlie  boldness  of  his  teachinc^,  his  denunciation 
of  shams  and  hypocrisies,  and  the  foolish  assumption  for 
him,  by  his  followers,  of  a  regal  title,  he  incurred  the 
hatred  of  the  Jews  and  the  suspicion  of  the  Romans ; 
and  Avho  finally  brought  a  painful  career  to  an  abrupt 
close  by  death  inflicted  in  a  most  shameful  and  agonizing- 
form; — if  this  man,  whose  life  is  so  full  of  obscurity,  vras 
in  reality  the  God,  Maker  and  Sustainer  of  the  Universe, 
then,  indeed,  docs  an  awful  responsibility  rest  upon  the 
mortal  who  approaches  any  inquiry  into  his  life,  charac- 
ter and  actions.  Yet  no  subject  falling  within  the  do- 
main of  human  investigation  must  be  avoided  because  of 
the  consequences  attending  &ucli  inquiry.  It  is  too  late 
now  to  say  to  any  human  soul  struggling  after  light  and 
knowledge,  "thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no  farther." 
The  only  barrier  that  can  obstruct  any  inquiry  is  the 
intervention  of  insurmountable  physical  obstacles  and 
the  limited  capacity  of  the  human  understanding. 

Let"  us  have  all  the  light  possible  and  at  any  cost. 
Though  we  sliould  lose  faith  and  hope,  and  the  dearest 
illusions  of  life — that  is  itself  almost  an  illusion — let  us 
know  all  that  can  be  known  while  the  lifeblood  is  warmly 
beating  through  our  hearts,  and  Avhile  the  sunlight  of 
knowledge  still  stands  for  us  above  the  horizon  :  "for 
there  is  no  knowledge  nor  device  in  the  grave,  nor  under- 
standinai;  in  the  land  where  all  thin^is  are  for2;otten." 
But  the  priests  of  all  religions  and  thejninisters  of  "  Kcv- 
elation,"  who  are  all  interested  in  the  preservation  of 
organized  cluirchcs,  are  ever  ready  to  resist  an}'  investi- 


88  Theology  and  Mijtliolofjy. 

gation  that  seeks  to  uncover  the  foundations  upon  which 
their  faith  and  rehgious  ceremonies  are  built.  To  those 
patiently  and  industriously  striving  to  bring  some  gold 
to  the  surface,  covered  Avitli  the  rubbish  of  two  thousand 
years  of  priestcraft  and  ignorance,  they  cry:  "Are  yon 
specially  fitted  to  conduct  such  an  investigation  ?  "What 
are  your  acquirements  ?  Can  you  speak  Hebrew  with 
the  same  facility  as  your  mother  tongue  ?  Do  you  dream 
in  Attic  Greek  and  say  your  prayers  in  Latin  ?  Have 
you  made  ecclesiastical  history  a  study  from  youth  to  old 
age  ?  Do  3'ou  know  what  views  the  Church  Fathers  for 
fifteen  centuries  held  concerning  some  disputed  passages 
of  Scripture,  and  the  status  of  certain  books  V  To  this 
it  may  be  replied  that  though  a  knowledge  of  ancient 
literature  is  a  most  graceful  acquirement,  and  reveals 
treasures  of  thonglit  whose  beauty  is  often  marred  by 
imperfection  of  translation,  yet  it  requires  no  knowledge 
of  Hebrew  or  Greek,  or  even  Latin,  to  form  an  opinion 
as  to  whether  dead  men  have  been  raised  to  life,  and 
those  long  sleeping  in  the  graves  walked  about  the  streets 
of  Jerusalem,  "  being  seen  of  many."  No  knowledge  of 
ecclesiastical  history  will  help  to  explain  to  the  uusancti- 
lied  how  a  man  walked  upon  the  waves  of  the  stormy 
sea,  or  how  five  thousand  people  were  fed  by  five  loaves 
of  bread  and  two  small  fishes,  and  twelve  basketsful  of 
fragments  collected  from  the  repast.  One  might  master 
all  tliat  has  been  written  on  the  Greek  particle  and  yet 
lail  to  understand  how  the  Devil  could  take  the  Creator 
of  tlio  L^niverse  up  to  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple  and 
gravely  tempt  th(^  Almighty  to  fall  down  and  worship 
the  Devil,  offering  as  a  reward  for  compliance  with  this 
diabolical  proposition   the  sovereignty   of  all   the  king- 


Theology  and  Mythology.  89 

doms  of  the  earth  and  their  glory,  which  the  Devil  could 
not  bestow,  and  which  God  must  have  known  belonged 
to  himself  and  not  to  the  Devil.  No  amount  of  antiqua- 
rian research  will  render  intelligible  the  cursing  by  Jesus 
of  a  fig-tree  that  bore  no  fruit  out  of  season,  and  the  im- 
mediate withering  away  of  the  fig-tree  consequent  upon 
the  curse  pronounced  against  its  sterility.  When  we  are 
asked  to  accept  as  true  statements  of  this  and  similar 
character  that  are  repugnant  to  the  humblest  exercise  of 
our  reasoning  faculties  and  the  daily  experience  of  our 
existence,  the  fact  that  we  are  or  are  not  entitled  to  write 
after  our  names  a  university  degree  will  make  very  little 
difference  in  helping  us  to  arrive  at  some  conclusion 
consistent  with  reason  and  the  lessons  of  human  experi- 
ence. 

No  man  of  sense  will  desire  to  belittle  the  pleasures 
of  learning  or  underrate  its  importance  in  the  civilization 
of  the  world.  Yet  it  must  be  admitted  that,  for  the  most 
part,  the  heroes  of  humanity,  the  great  warriors,  the 
wise  kings,  the  astute  statesmen,  the  bold  adventurers  in 
unknown  seas,  the  inventors  of  printing,  of  the  steam- 
engine  and  telegraph,  and  the  men  who  have  given  im- 
pulse to  tlie  great  forward  movements  in  social  and  moral 
reform,  were  not  mere  bookworms,  but  vigorous  men 
with  large  human  sympathies  and  great  strength  of 
will. 

We  have  a  class  who,  after,  in  most  cases,  years  of 
preparatory  study,  undertake,  or  are,  in  the  language  of 
the  profession,  "  called  "  to  the  ofiice  of  public  teachers 
of  religion.  In  the  older  European  miiversities  the  clergy 
are  supposed  to  have  undergone  a  course  of  instruction 
fitting  them  for  the  worlc  not  only  of  public  ministry  but 


^0  Theology  and  Mythology. 

for  investigating  the  cvitlenco  upon  whicli  the  assumj)- 
tions  of  Cliristianitj  are  capable  of  proof.  This  latter 
dr.t}^  has,  as  a  general  rule,  been  shamelessly  neglected. 
In  the  great  conflict  now  being  waged  between  Science 
and  Keligion,  the  anointed  and  chosen  ministers  of  re- 
ligion are  ominously  silent. 

llie  ablest  champions  of  orthodoxy,  as  well  as  its 
fiercest  assailants,  are  laymen.     It  is  true  that  Bishop 
Colenso  broke  the  ecclesiastical  fetters  that  held  him  in 
mental  restraint;  but  the  persecution,  both  legal  and 
popular,  that  pursued  him  deterred  others  afflicted  with 
tlie  sam.e  doubts  that  drove  him  into  an  investigation  of 
the  Mosaic  account  of  the  creation  and  the  miraculous, 
leading  to  his  open  repudiation  of  the  inspirational  the- 
ory, from  following  the  course  he  adopted.     It  is  ranch 
.to  be  feared  that    the   teachers   of  religion   will  never 
greatly  disturb '  themselves  or  the   vrorld  by   any   very 
startling  or  profound  investigation   of  the  grounds   of 
Christian  belief.     Their  interests  are  so  interwoven  with 
the  existing  order  of  things  that  they  can  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  rise  superior  to  selflsh  considerations.     They 
are,  too,  as  a  rule,  unfit  for  the  task.     If  one  of  them 
does  enter  the  field  of  biblical  criticism,  he  does  so,  not 
for  the  purpose  of  procuring  new  evidence  or  passing 
impartially  npon  such  as  we  have,  but  with  a  view  to 
repair  the  breaches  already  made  and  erect  a  great  Chi- 
nese wall  to  prevent  the  incursion  of  iconoclasts  and 
levelers.  ■  In  their  attempts  to  fortify  their  position  they 
disregard  the  ordinary  rules  of  warfare,  and  hurl  upon 
the  heads  of  their  assailants  the  foulest  epithets  that  the 
ecclesiastical  mud-engines  can  belch  forth.     IS^a  matter 
liow  pure  and  blameless  mny  be  a  man's  life,  the  moment 


Theology  and  Mythology.  01 

he  questions  the  biblical  story  he  is  branded  an  atheist, 
infidel,  blasphemer,  a  dangerous  man  and  an  enemy  to 
society.  He  may  have  genius,  but  this  onl}'-  makes  his 
crime  cf  independence  the  more  heinous.  No  longer 
able  to  consign  him  to  the  rack,  the  faggot  and  the  dun- 
geon, as  in  the  good  pious  old  times  gone  by,  the  church 
n\ilitant  now  contents  herself  with  attempting  to  render 
him  infamous  and  socially  an  outcast.  This  even,  little 
as  it  is,  is  not  eiiected  with  the  same  ease  as  formerlj,-. 

Churchmen  are  equally  unjust  in  their  attempted  in- 
terpretation of  Scripture.  They  strain  and  tv/ist  passages 
out  of  all  shape  and  meaning  to  support  the  most  extrav- 
agant views.  The  plainest  passages  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  having  reference  and  application  to  events 
current  with  their  utterance,  are  regarded  as  prophetic 
descriptions  of  the  spiritual  Messiah.  Thus  Melchisedec, 
the  priest  who  met  Abraham  returning  from  the  slaugh- 
ter of  the  kings,  was  typical  of,  if  not  identical  with,  the 
true  Christ  manifested  to  the  world  in  the  person  of 
Jesus,  the  son  of  the  carpenter.  Wlien  the  three  angels 
(?)  appeared  at  Abraham's  tent-door  in  the  cool  of  the 
dav,  and  Abraham  in  the  Oriental  manner  addressed 
them  as  "  my  Lord,"  biblical  commentators  discover  in 
this  a  proof  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  Examination 
v/ill  disclose  the  fact  that  even  the  often-quoted  passages 
of  Isaiah — denominated  the  evangelical  prophet — triuni- 
phantly  insisted  upon  as  descriptive  of  the  Savior,  had 
really ,not  the  slightest  reference,  directly  or  indirectly, 
to  Jesus  of  ITazareth,  but  had  sole  and  primary  reference 
to  some  person  or  event  of  prominent  importance  in  the 
current  history  of  the  Jewish  race.  Cyrus,  for  the  most 
part,  and  not  the  poor  despised  Nazarcnc  of  subsequent ' 


92  Theology  and  Mythology. 

ages,  is  the  subject  of  Isaiah's  '*  inspired ''  verse.  The 
first  few  verses  of  the  forty-fifth  chapter  of  this  book 
settle  the  question  beyond  controversy  :  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  to  his  anointed,  to  Cyrus,  whose  right  hand  I  have 
lioldcn,  to  subdue  nations  before  hirii ;  and  I  will  loose 
the  loins  of  kings  to  open  before  him  the  two  leaved 
gates,  and  the  gates  shall  not  be  shut.  I  will  go  before 
thee,  and  make  the  crooked  places  straight,  I  will  break 
in  pieces  the  gates  of  brass  and  cut  in  sunder  the  bars  of 
iron,  and  I  will  give  thee  the  treasures  of  darkness  and  the 
hidden  riches  of  secret  places,  that  thou  mayest  know 
that  I,  the-Lord,  M'hich  call  thee  by  name,  am  the  God 
of  Israel."  We  care  not  now  to  consider  the  anthropo- 
morphic picture  here  presented  of  the  God  of  Israel  en- 
gaged in  smashing  two  leaved  gates  of  brass,  and  twist- 
ing bars  of  iron,  as  a  display  of  his  power  for  his  anointed 
Cyrus ;  we  only  remark  that  if  the  name  of  Cyrus  had 
not  been  specially  mentioned  here,  there  hardly  remains 
a  doubt  that  this  description  would  have  been  appi-o- 
priated  by  the  Church  and  applied  altogether  to  Jesus. 
So  far  had  this  speculative  application  of  the  older  He- 
brew Scriptures  to  the  character  and  person  of  Jesus 
been  carried,  that  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews exercises  the  most  refined  species  of  ingenuity  in 
establishing  the  superiority  of  Christ's  ministers  to  the 
priesthood  of  Levi.  The  writer,  by  a  bold  exercise  of 
the  imagination,  assumes  that  that  mysterious  character 
called  Melchisedec,  mentioned  casually  in  Genesis,  and 
who  is  dismissed  in  briefest  mention  as  "  priest  of  tlie 
most  high  God,"  was  actually  the  God  who  was  after- 
ward manifested  in  tlie  flesh  in  the  person  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth.     Having,  by  this  splendid  conceit,  established 


Theology  and  Mythology.  93 

tills  fiict,  the  writer  proceeds  to  sliow  that  Abraham,  the 
progenitor  of  Levi,  meeting  Melcliiseclec,  returning  from 
the  slaughter  of  the  kings,  paid  tithes  to  Melchisedec, 
or  to  Jesus,  V\\\o  was  not  born  until  a  few  thousand  years 
later,  and  argues  that  therefore  the  Levitical  order  of 
priesthood  was  inferior  to  that  of  Jesus ;  forgetting,  for 
the  moment,  that  if  Jesus  was  the  descendant  of  Abra- 
ham, as  is  claimed  for  him,  he,  too,  being  "  in  the  loins  of 
his  father  Abraham," — to  use  the  scriptural  phrase — 
must  have  paid  tithes  to  himself!  Christians  maybe 
satisfied  with  this  kind  of  argument,  but  men  of  ordinary 
understanding  will  condemn  it  as  despicable  sophism 
unworthy  of  a  moment's  consideration. 

The  gospel  narrative  informs  us  that,  after  the  birth 
of  Jesus,  Joseph  and  Mary  went  down  to  Egypt.  There 
was  apparently  no  compelling  cause  for  the  undertaking 
of  this  journey  ;  but  the  gospel  writer,  with  great  candor, 
informs  us  that  this  was  done  in  order  that  the  prophecy 
"  Out  of  Egypt  have  I  called  my  son"  might  be  fulfilled. 
This,  it  will  be  admitted,  is  a  novel  method  of  fulfilling 
prophecy.  Almost  endless  instances  might  be  adduced 
of  the  adoption  of  this  method  of  the  application  of 
prophecies  to  persons  and  subjects  to  which  they  had 
not  the  remotest  reference. 

When  the  propagators  of  Christianity  found  it  neces- 
sary to  attempt  to  reconcile  the  strange  aspects  of  the 
Christian  faith  with  the  expectations  entertained  by  the 
Jews  of  restoration  of  sovereign  and  national  power,  they 
abandoned  the  plain  meaning  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures. 
For  a  temporal  prince  and  warrior  they  substituted  a 
spiritual  Christ.  For  the  kingdom  of  Israel  they  gave 
the  recalcitrant  Jews   the  larger,  loftier  and  more  spa- 


94  Theology  and  Mijihology. 

(•ions  but  less  tangible  kingdom  of  Ilciiveii.  The  Canaan 
of  tlieir  early  bloody  wars  became  the  shining  shore  of 
tlie  better  land  beyond  the  grave.  The  New  Jerusalem, 
whose  streets  were  to  be  paved  witli  pnre  gold,  was  not 
to  be  found  npon  any  map  of  Palestine.  Even  Jordan 
had  vmdergone  a  change.  It  was  no  longer  the  dear  old 
familiar,  almost  sacred  river  wdiose  sensitive  waters  ran 
from  the  touch  of  the  priest's  feet ;  it  was  no  longer  only 
the  beautiful  river  by  whose  pleasant  banks  children 
sported,  young  men  and  maidens  sipped  the  intoxicating 
elixir  of  life's  opening  dream, -or  where  the  aged  patri- 
arch and  white-haired  prophet  sat,  and  as  they  looked 
upon  its  swift-flowing  surface  saw  mirrored  the  picture 
of  the  far-off  past  and  the  fleeting  present.  It  was  more 
tlum  all  this  under  the  new  dispensation.  "  Saints"  no\v 
sang  of  meeting  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan,  of  gathering 
at  the  river,  and  wandering  in  the  pleasant  fields  of  the 
spiritual  Canaan,  in  much  the  same  spirit  as  the  cxilo 
dreams  of  the  lakes  and  the  mountains,  the  rivers  and 
the  valleys,  and  the  surf-beaten  shore  of  his  far-off  native 
land.  But  the  unpoetic  and  practical  Jew  entertained 
no  such  conceptions.  His  vision  was  obscured  by  no 
such  allegorical  clouds.  Jordan  was  to  him  a  stream, 
sacred,  it  is  true,  by  its  association  with  the  history  of 
his  race,  but  only  a  sti'eam.  Canaan  was,  it  is  true,  in 
the  flowery  language  of  the  Orientalists,  a  land  flowing 
with  milk  and  honey,  which  he  had  obtained  possession 
of  not  by  prayers,  but  \i-y  hard  fighting;  and  if  he  enter- 
tained at  times — which  is  very  doubtful — dreams  of  a 
life  beyond  the  grave,  he  never  thought  of  encumbering 
himself  with  the  Zions,  Jordans,  Canaans  and  Jerusalems 
of  his  earthly  pdgriinage.     It  is  only  the  Christian  v.'ho, 


Theology  and  Mytliology.  95 

asserting  that  God  is  a  spirit,  yet  witli  strange  inconsist- 
ency ascribes  to  liini  the  passions,  vices  and  virtues  of 
hnmanity. 

The  existence  of  any  fact  is  totally  independent  of 
any  views  that  ma}^  l^e  entertained  concerning  it.  The 
sun  would  shine  with  its  wonted  brightness,  and  rise  and 
set  with  its  accustomed  regularity,  whether  or  not  men 
existed  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth  to  enjoy  its  light 
and  trace  its  apparent  course  in  the  heavens.  Earth's 
rivers  would  forever  llov/  and  mingle  their  waters,  fresh 
Xrom  mountains  and  valleys,  with  the  sea's  salt  waves, 
whether  they  bore  upon  their  surface  the  magnificent 
monuments  of  naval  architecture,  freighted  with  the 
products  of  human  industry,  or  swept  forward,  into  the 
currents  of  the  ocean,  rocks,  trees  and  vegetable  matter, 
unconscious  of  change. 

In  dealing  with  the  record  of  the  "  miraculous"  phase 
of  Christianity,  some  modern  writers  of  great  learning 
and  eminence,  animated  doubtless  by  an  amiable  dispo- 
sition, would  sacrifice  truth  itself,  lest  a  shock  should  be 
given  to  the  religious  sentiment  by  the  unequivocal  as- 
sertion of  what  they  conceive  to  be  the  truth. 

Renan's  "Life  of  Jesus"  reads  more  like  a  romance 
than  a  scholai-ly  and  philrosophical  investigation  of  the 
most  important  subject  that  can  engage  the  attention  of 
any  rational  human  being.  While  eminently  suggestive, 
ho  almost  shrinks  from  the  duty  of  drawing  legitimata 
and  logical  conclusions  from  his  own  premises.  Having 
demonstrated  the  physical  impossibility  involved  in  the 
acceptance  of  the  theory  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  yet, 
v/ith  reprehensible  levity,  ho  admits  that  Christ  did  rise 


96  Theology  and  Mythology . 

I'roin  the  dead  and  ascend  into  \\qv(.\&w  for  those  who  believe 
it.  This  is  trifling  with  a  controversy  only  one  side  of 
->viiich  can  be  true.  Either  Jesus  triumphantly  tram- 
pling upon  Y)hysical  impossibilities,  asserting  liis  superi- 
ority to  all  laws  of  nature,  conquered  the  King  of  Ter- 
rors in  his  own  gloomy  and  lightless  stronghold,  and 
ascended  bodily  into  the  heavens,  wherever  they  maybe; 
or,  after  a  heroic  and  godlike  life,  crowned  with  thorns 
that  a  thankless  world  ever  binds  npon  the  brows  of  the 
emancipators  of  humanity,  scourged  with  the  stripes  that 
ignorance  and  bigotry  ever  inflict  upon  the  forerunners 
of  new  eras  of  larger  freedom  and  fuller  moral  and  intel- 
lectual development,  his  physical  existence  underwent 
the  same  change  and  was  subject  to  the  inevitable  condi- 
tions that  are  inseparable  from  human  life.  Either  one 
or  the  other  of  these  theories  must  be  true ;  both  cer- 
tainly cannot.  The  thought  of  the  present  day  will  not 
be  satisfied  with  faith  or  sentiment;  it  wants  facts,  and 
facts  only,  no  matter  how  many  and  dearly-cherished 
beliefs  the  light  of  investigation  may  dissipate  forever. 

At  the  very  threshold  of  an  investigation  into  the 
claims  of  a  religious  belief  founded  npon  the  assumption 
of  miraculous  interpositions,  one  is  met  by  a  protest 
against  the  propriety  of  such  an  investigation.  It  is 
often  said,  in  substance :  "  Suppose  you  succeed,  Avhich, 
after  all,  is  extremely  difficulL,  in  weakening  the  trusting 
faith  of  the  best  people  in  the  world  in  the  assumed 
truths  of  Christianity,  what  do  you  gain  thereby  ?  Do 
you  not  take  from  them  the  bread  of  life  and  offer  them 
a  stone  ?  Why  rob  life,  not  very  pleasant  under  the 
best  cu'cumstances,  of  a  harmless,  nay,  beneficent,  delu- 
sion, if  it  be  a  delusion  ?     Assuming  even  that  there  is 


Theology  and  Mythology.  97 

no  life  beyond  the  present,  wliy  trouble  yourself  and 
others  by  perplexing  doubts  ?  Let  things  be  as  they  are 
and  let  human  faitli  flow  on  as  heretofore  in  its  well- 
defined  channel.  Why  engage  in  the  most  thankless 
office  in  tlie  world — that  of  intimating  that  long-estab- 
lished faith  may  be  based  upon  erroneous  teaching  ? 
AVhy  vex  even  your  brief  existence  with  the  great  prob- 
lems that  the  wisest  men  leave  to  others  ?  Life  at  best 
is  short,  and  yet  it  ofiers  some  pleasure  to  the  man  not 
overburthened  wnth  thought  who  follows  in  the  crowd  of 
respectable  mediocrity  and  generously  pays  others  who 
professionally  do  his  religious  thinking  for  him." 

To  this  it  may  be  answered  that  tlie  noblest  and  hap- 
piest exercise  of  the  faculties  of  man's  higher  being  is  in 
the  investigation  of  truth  for  truth's  sake.  The  pleasures 
of  sense  perish  with  the  using.  The  "  scorners  of  the 
ground"  made  this  discovery  even  long  before  the  royal 
Hebrew  sensualist,  who,  having  drank  life  to  the  lees, 
declared  that  all  was  vanity.  The  knowledge  of  the 
truth  robs  life  of  nothing  worth  cherishing.  It  alone 
confers  dignity  upon  man,  and  enables  him,  unfettered 
by  the  rust-eaten  chains  of  superstition  and  un appalled 
by  spiritual  anathemas,  to  comprehend  his  place  in  na- 
ture and  accept  with  decent  composure  the  inevitable. 
Were  the  pioneers  of  humanity  timorous  as  to  where 
truth  might  lead  and  how  far  from  ancient  landmarks 
investigation  wouLl  carry  them,  the  progress  of  our  race 
would  have  been  impeded  for  many  centuries;  the  toma- 
hawk, the  bow  and  arrow  and  string  of  beads  would  rep- 
resent our  civilization  to-day,  and  not  the  telescope,  the 
telegraph,  the  steam-engine  and  printing-press.  By  the 
very  condition   of  his  being  man  is  imperatively  urged 


0.8  Theology  and  Mythology. 

into  the  field  of  investiij^ation.  A  knowledafe  of  the 
pliysical  laws  in  conformity  with  which  his  existence  is 
rendered  pleasant  or  even  tolerable  can  never  be  detri- 
mental to  the  individual.  So  a  knowledge  of  the  spirit- 
ual and  moral  laws  that  govern  him  is  inseparable  from 
his  improvement  and  progress  in  his  social  relations.  As 
his  religious  conceptions,  and  the  forms  and  ceremonies 
by  which  he  expresses  tliem,  are  controlling  elements  in 
his  civilization,  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  term,  it  is 
apparent  that  it  becomes  the  duty  of  every  rational  crea- 
ture to  apply  the  attention  to  the  investigation  of  relig- 
ious claims  that  he  does  to  the  ordinary  interests  and 
avocations  of  life.  It  is  difficult  for  one  accustomed  from 
the  very  dawn  of  the  reasoning  faculties  to  place  unques- 
tioned reliance  in  the  assumptions  of  "  Kevelation,"  and 
taught  to  regard  with  reverence  the  religious  ceremonies 
in  which  spiritual  conceptions  have  been  preserved  and 
crystalizcd,  to  divest  himself  utterly  of  all  bias,  and  en- 
joy a  condition  of  mental  indiiference  so  necessary  to 
fearless  investigation.  The  painful  earnestness  with 
which  wc  sometimes  endeavor  to  persuade  ourselves  and 
others  that  we  are  perfectly  unprejudiced  affords  the  best 
evidence  of  the  permanence  of  early  impressions.  In  an 
investigation  into  the  presumed  truths  of  "Revelation"'' 
it  is  useless  to  assert  that  only  certain  portions  of  it  fall 
within  the  scope  of  inquiry,  while  other  portions  must 
be  accepted  witliout  question  or  liesitation.  For  be'tter 
or  worse — and  "we  believe  assuredly  for  the  betterT— the 
world  wishes  to  know  all  that  may  be  known  of  the  fun- 
damental principles  and  historical  evidences  upon  which 
revealed  religion  is  based.  True,  the  unthinking  and  the 
ii-uorant   mav,  for  manv  years   to   come,  continue  to  ac- 


TJiGology  and  Mythology.'  99 

cept  as  absolute  verities  propositions  abandoned  as  un- 
tenable by  their  leaders  ;  but  no  system  can  long  survive 
its  c'ondemnation  by  tlie  intellect,  ability  and  culture  of 
the  ripest  scholars  and  independent  thinkers  of  the  age. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Leaving  the  claims  to  inspiration  put  forward  on  be- 
lialf  of  the  ohler  Hebrew  Scriptures,  let  us  inquire 
whether  or  not  the  Kew  Testament  writings  conform  to 
what  we  should  consider  the  essentials  of  a  divine  com- 
munication, if  any  such  has  ever  been  given  to  man. 

Inspiration,  in  its  ordinary  acceptation  and  biblical 
sense,  we  may  assume  to  be  the  communication  of  knowl- 
edge of  some  kind,  which  could  not  otherwise  be  ob- 
tained, to  a  human  being  by  God,  who  we  may  als6 
assume  to  be  a  spiritual  being  having  no  bodily  or  terres- 
trial existence,  and  which  man  could  never  have  evolved 
from  his  own  inner  consciousness  or  have  acquired  by 
observation  of  the  externals  surroundino;  him. 

The  power  of  limited  prediction  must  not  1)0  con- 
founded with  what  "inspiration"  calls  prophec3\  For 
example,  by  a  happy  guess,  or  by  an  accurate  survey  of 
political  events,  past  and  passing,  one  might  predict, 
and  be  verified  in  the  prediction,  that  ten  3'ears  hence 
the  Empire  might  be  restored  in  France  or  royalty  abol- 
ished in  England.  Yet  tlie  verification  of  either  predic- 
tion or  both  of  them  would  by  no  means  argue  the  em- 


Theology  and  Mythology.  101 

ployment  of  divine  wisdom  miraculously  confeiYed. 
Again,  "Revelation"  is  only  valuable  when  it  communi- 
cates truths  that  the  world  needs  to  know,  is  bettered  by 
knowing,  and  which  were  not  discoverable  by  the  exer- 
cise of  the  reasoning}:  faculties. 

A  "  Revelation  "  claiming  to  come  from  the  author  of 
all  truth  must  be  absolutely  perfect.  In  it  confusion,  and, 
least  of  all,  contradiction,  should  find  no  place.  In  in- 
vestigating the  origin  of  Christianity,  from  the  biblical 
accounts,  we  find  inextricable  confusion  in  the  narration 
of  the  most  important  events.  Mark,  without  any  pref- 
atory remarks, 'passes  over  in  utter  silence  the  infancy, 
youth  and  early  manhood  of  Jesus,  beginning  his  sketch 
of  the  public  ministry  of  Christ  at  the  period  of  the  im- 
prisonment of  John,  and  introduces  Jesus  as  entering  on 
his  public  career  preaching  by  the  shore  of  the  sea  of 
Galilee,  and  numbering  among  the  first  converts  to  his 
faith  two  fishermen,  Simon  and  Andrew.  Matthew  be- 
gins the  g-cnealogy  of  Jesus  at  Abraham  and  traces  it 
down  to  Joseph,  the  husband  of  Mary;  "of  whom  was 
born  Jesus,  who  is  called  the  Christ."  Luke,  after  in- 
dulging in  some  prefatory  remarks,  disclaiming,  by  im- 
putation, any  other  than  natural  and  ordinary  sources  of 
i'liformation,  commences  by  saying,  "  And  Jesus  himself 
began  to  be  about  tliirty  j-ears  of  age,  being,  as  was  sup- 
posed, tlic  son  of  Joseph  which  was  the  son  of  Hell," 
etc.,  and  traces  the  genealogy  of  Jesus  up  to  Adam, 
"which  was  the  son  of  God."  Luke  makes  Jesus  to 
have  descended  from  David  through  Nathan ;  Matthew 
makes  him  descended  from  David  throu2;h  Solomon. 
Matthew  says  (i,  17) :  "  So  all  the  generations  from 
Abraham  to  David  arc  fourteen  generations ;  and  from 


102  Theology  and  Mythology. 

David  unto  the  carrying  away  into  Babylon  arc  fourteen 
generations ;  and  from  the  carrying  away  into  Babylon 
nnto  Christ  are  fourteen  generations'';  making  thus  in 
all  forty-tw^o  generations  by  Matthew's  count  from  Abra- 
ham to  Jesus.  By  turning  to  Luke,  and  ascending  the 
genealogical  tree,  we  find,  by  actual  enumeration,  the 
number  of  generations  from  Jesus  to  Abraham  to  bo 
fifty-four.  Here,  then,  in  these  two  accounts  exists  a 
difierence  of  twelve  generations.  Both  certainly  cannot 
be  divinely  inspired,  since  they  involve  a  discrepancy 
and  contradiction  irreconcilable  by  any  hypothesis,  how- 
over  ingenious.  A  little  further  on  we  are  confronted 
with  another  diSiculty.  Jesus,  "  according  to  the  flesli, 
was  the-son  of  David."  Joseph,  according  to  the  "or-, 
thodox "  view,  was  not  the  true  parent  of  Jesus.  lie 
was  only  the  nominal  husbond  of  Mary,  the  mother  of 
Jesus.  If  Jesus  were  the  son  of  God,  and  not  born  into 
the  world  in  accordance  with  the  ordinary  laws  of  pro- 
creation, common-sense  as  well  as  a  moment's  reflection 
would  suggest  that  the  world  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally 
indifferent  to  the  genealogy  of  Joseph,  who  is  a  mere 
figurehead  and  amiable  appendage  in  the  group  of  t!ic 
"  holy  family."  If  Jesus. was  not  the  son  of  Josepli,  in 
the  natural  sense  in  which  ever}'^  male  child  i  the  son  of 
his  father,  there  exists  no  necessity  or  excuse  for  the 
insertion  in  the  sacred  records  of  the  genealogy  of  Jo- 
seph. Obviously,  if  the  "inspired"  writers  desired  to 
have  traced  the  descent  of  Jesus  from  David,  they  onglit 
to  have  shown  that  Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus,  and  not 
Joseph,  was  descended  from  the  royal  house  of  David. 
This  they  have  utterly  failed  to  do,  leaving  their  failure 
inexplicable — all  the  more  so   as  it  does  not  seem  tliat 


Theology  and  Mythology.  103 

they  ever  entertained  the  new  doctrine  of  the  Catholic 
Churcli  of  the  "immaculate  conception"  of  the  Virgin 
IMary  lierself. 

Without  adverting  to  the  physical  absurdity  involved 
in  the  account  of  the  supernatural  birth  of  Jesus,  let  us 
refer,  for  a  moment,  to  the  gospel  narration  of  tliis  mar- 
velous story.  Matthew,!,  18,  and  following:  "]S[ow  the 
birth  of  Jesus  Christ  was  on  this  wise :  When  as  his  mother 
Mary  was  espoused  to  Joseph,  before  they  came  together, 
she  was  fbund  with  child  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  Then  Jo- 
sepli,  her  husband,  being  a  just  man,  and  not  willing  to 
make  her  a  public  example,  was  minded  to  put  her  away 
privily ;  but  while  he  thought  on  these  things,  behold 
the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him  in  a  dream, 
saying,  Joseph,  thou  son  of  David,  fear  not  to  take  unto 
thee  Mary  thy  wife  ;  for  that  which  is  conceived  in  her 
is  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  she  shall  bring  forth  a  son, 
and  thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus  ;  for  lie  shall  save  his 
people  from  their  sins.  Ifoio,  all  this  was  done  that  it 
miglit  he  fulfilled  which  was  sjjohen  of  the  Lord  hy  the 
proj)het^  saying^  Behold,  a  -virgin  shall  he  with  child, 
and  shall  hring  forth  a  S07i,  and  they  shall  call  his  7iaine 
JEni'tnanuely  ichich,  heing  interjjreted,  is,  God  with  us. 
Then  Jc  ph,  being  raised  from  sleep,  did  as  the  angel 
of  the  Ll  1  had  ^bidden  him,  and  took  unto  him  his  wife ; 
and  knew  her  not  till  she  had  brought  forth  her  first- 
born son,  and  he  called  his  name  Jesus."  From  this 
account  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  story  of  the  mirac- 
ulous birth  of  Jesus  is  based  upon  the  unsupported  state- 
ment of  Matthew  and  a  dream  of  Joseph.  AYe  are  not 
informed  that  this  miraculous  birth  was  part  of  a  divine 
programme  laid  down  for  the  salvation  of  mankind;  but 


104  Theology  and  Mytliology. 

"  all  this  Vv'as  done  that  it  mi<rht  be  fulfilled  wliich  was 
spoken  by  the  Lord  of  the  prophet."     Turning  to  the 
prophecy  here  referred  to,  let  us  quote  from  the  seventh 
chapter  of  Isaiah :  "  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  days  of 
Ahaz,  the  son  of  Jotliam,  the  son  of  Uzziah,  king  of  Ju- 
dah,  that  Rezin,  king  of  Syria,  and  Pekah,  the  son  of 
Ecmaliah,  king  of  Israel,  went  up  toward  Jerusalem  to 
war  against  it ;  but  could  not  prevail  against  it.     And 
it  was  told  the  house  of  David,  saying,  Syria  is  confeder- 
ate with  Ephraim.     And  his  heart  was  moved  and  the 
licart  of  his  people,  as  the  trees  of  the  wood  are  moved 
with  the  wind.     Then  said  the  Lord  unto  Isaiah,  Go 
forth  now  to  meet  Ahaz,  thou,  and  Shear-Jashub  thy 
son,  at  the  end  of  the  conduit  of  the  upper  pool  in  the 
liighway  of  the  fuller's  field,  and  say  unto  him.  Take 
liced  and  be  quiet,  fear  not,  neither  be  faint-hearted  for  the 
two  tails  of  these  smokino-  firebrands :  for  the  fierce  an- 
ger  of  Kezin  with  Syria  and  of  the  son  of  Remaliah,  be- 
cause Syria,  Ephraim  and  the  son  of  Kemaliah  have 
taken  evil   counsel  against  thee,  saying.  Let  us  go  up 
against  Judah  and  vex  it;  and  lot  us  make  a  breach 
therein  for  us  and  set  a  king  in  the  midst  of  it,  even  the 
son  of  Tabeal.     Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  It  shall  not 
stand,  neither  shall  it  come  to  pass.     Eor  the  head  of 
Syria  is  Damascus,  and  the  head  of  Damascus  is  Rezin  ; 
and  xoithin  three  score  and  jive  years  shall  £j)hrai)n,  be 
broken  thatit  he  not  a  2^Q0i:)le.     And  tlie  liead  of  E])li- 
raim  is  Samaria,  and  the  head  of  Samaria  is  Remaliah's 
son.     If  ye  w'ill  not  believe,  surely  ye  shall  not  bo  estab- 
lished.    Moreover,  the  Lord    spake  again  unto  Ahaz, 
saying,  Ask  thee  a  sign  of  the  Lord  thy  God  ;  ask  it  either 
in  the  depth  or  in  tlic  hciglit  above.    But  Ahaz  said,  I  will 


Theology  and  J\[ytholo(/y.  105 

not  ask,  neither  will  I  tempt  the  Lord.  And  he  Baid, 
Hear  ye  now,  O  house  of  David  :  Is  it  a  small  thing  for 
you  to  weary  men ;  but  will  ye  weary  my  God  also  ? 
Therefore  the  Lord  himself  shall  give  you  a  sign.  JJe- 
holdj  a  virgin  shall  conceive  and  bear  a  son,  and  shall 
call  his  name  Emmanuel.  Mutter  and  honey  shall 
he  eat,  that  he  may  know  to  refuse  the  evil  and 
choose  the  good.  For  before  the  child  shall  know  to 
refuse  the  evil  and  choose  the  good,  the  land  thou 
abhorrcst  shall  be  forsaken  of  both,  her  ki7igsr 

We  have  quoted  this  passage  in  full  from  Isaiah  lest 
it  might  bo  charged  that  we  have  given  an  improper 
construction  to  an  isolated  passage  of  Scripture.  Is  it 
not  clear  as  tlie  sunliijht  to  the  humblest  intelhVence, 
from  the  perusal  of  this  passage  of  Scripture,  that  the 
sign  of  a  virgin  bringing  forth  a  son,  mentioned  by  the 
prophet  Isaiah,  had  sole  reference  to  an  event  in  Jewish 
history  long  anterior  to  the  birth  of  Jesus  of  Isazareth, 
and  totally  unconnected  with  the  marvelous  career  of  the 
founder  of  Christianity  ?  Can  it  be  qucc-tioned  that  this 
passage  had  not  the  slightest  allusion  to  the  Christ  of  the 
New  Testament,  in  either  his  true  character  as  the  son 
of  man,  or  his  accepted  character  as  a  wondrous  combi- 
nation of  God  and  man  %  What  butter  and  what  liouev 
was  he  to  eat  that  he  might  know  how  to  refuse  the  evil 
and  choose  the  good?  Is  not  this  utterly  senseless? 
According  to  the  orthodox  theory,  Jesus  was  born  with- 
out sin.  Neither  butter  nor  honey,  as  a  dietary  arrange- 
ment, could  give  him  any  knowledge  of  either  good  or 
evil.  He  knew  all  things  before  he  was  born,  when  he 
vvas  born,  and  in  liis  infancy,  youth  and  manhood.  He 
was  absolutely  a  peri'cct  being,  tlie  God  of  the  limiilcss 


106  Theology  and  Mythology. 

Universe,  incarnate.  "Wliat  latitude  of  imagination  or 
perversion  of  the  ordinary  meaning  of  human  language 
can  apply  this  prophecy — so  called — to  the  author  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  ?  Was  Jesus  ever,  in  the  New 
Testament,  called  Emmanuel  ?  What  land  was  forsaken 
by  both  her  kings  before  the  child  Jesus,  by  eating  butter 
and  honey,  knew  how  to  refuse  the  evil  and  choose  the 
good  ?  Is  not  this  nothing  but  a  painful  eifort  on  tho 
part  of  the  zealous  author  of  this  imperfect  and  meager 
biography  of  Jesus  to  apply  an  obscure  allusion  to  a  dis- 
astrous juncture  in  Jewisli  history  in  support  of  the  pre- 
tensions put  forth  to  sustain  the  story  of  the  supernatural 
birth  of  Jesus  ?  Again,  Joseph  is  made  to  undertake  a 
journey  with  the  infant  Jesus  into  Egypt, -in  order  that 
another  prophecy,  so  called,  might  be  fulfilled  :  "  Out  of 
Egypt  have  I  called  my  son ";  the  full  passage  being, 
"  When  Israel  was  a  child  I  loved  him  ;  out  of  Egypt 
have  I  called  my  son."  This  manufacturing  of  fulfill- 
ment of  prophecy,  in  order  to  make  the  life  of  Jesus  har- 
monize with  obscure  allusions,  called  prophetical,  is 
everywhere  apparent  throughout  the  New  Testament 
writings.  The  probability  is  that  in  the  original  sketches 
they  found  no  place,  but  were  subsequently  clumsily  in- 
terpolated by  zealots  in  order  to  present  a  plausible  ar- 
gument in  favor  of  the  Messianic  claims  of  Jesus. 

The  account  of  the  nativity  of  Jesus  as  given  by  Luke 
differs  very  materially  from  that  of  Matthew.  After  the 
introduction  of  the  wonderful  episode  of  Zacharias  and 
Elizabeth,  which  bears  on  its  face  evidence  of  the  pur- 
pose for  which  it  was  gotten  uj),  we  are  told  that,  in  the 
sixth  month,  the  angel  Gabriel  w^as  sent  by  God  to  an- 
nounce to  Mary,  then   espoused  to  Joseph,  the  signal 


T 


7ieology  and  Mythology.  107 


honor  conferred  upon  her  in  being  designated  as  the 
mother  of  liini  "  who  shall  be  great  and  shall  be  called 
the  son  of  the  highest;  and  the  Lord  God  shall  give 
unto  him  the  throne  of  his  father  David."  The  angel 
Gabriel,  who  had  also  been  visiting  Ehzabeth,  informs 
JVIary  of  the  situation  of  the  former,  who  in  her  old  age 
was  about  to  become  the  mother  of  a  man  whose  career 
was  only  less  remarkable,  as  a  popular  teacher,  than  that 
of  Jesus.  Luke  omits  altogether  the  story  of  the  appear- 
ance of  the  angel  to  Joseph  in  a  dream,  but  more  tlian 
compensates  for  the  omission  by  making  Mary — an  un- 
educated Jewish  peasant  girl — utter  a  remarkably  fine 
piece  of  composition,  still  deservedly  popular  in  the  re- 
ligious services  of  the  Churcli.  Luke  narrates  the  mir- 
aculous announcement  of  the  birth  of  Jesus  to  the  shep- 
lierds  watching  their  flocks  by  night.  Matthew,  however 
— which  Luke  omits — narrates  the  journey  of  the  wise 
men  of  the  East,  following  a  star  moving  through  the 
heavens  until  it  finally  stood  over  the  house  where  the 
infant  Jesus  was  sheltered.  We  do  not  know  what 
measure  of  faith,  unsustained  by  any  testimony  whatever, 
is  necessary  to  enable  reasonable  men  to  believe  that  a 
star  moved  through  the  heavens  and  then  stood  directly 
over  a  particular  spot.  Such  a  plienomenon  would  do- 
range 'the  whole  stellar  system,  involving  probably  the 
destruction  of  this  world  and  others;  besides,  granting 
even  the  appearance  of  a  star  in  such  a  mission  possil)le, 
and  overlooking  the  absurdity  of  employing  a  star  to 
perform  the  ordinary  work  of  a  human  guide,  yet  we  are 
presented  with  the  farther  impossibihty  of  a  star  in  the 
heavens  indicating  with  sufficient  accuracy  any  portion 
of  the  earth's  surface  under  it  within  the  radius  of  a  few 


108  Theology  and  Afythology. 

miles !  To  give  credence  to  sucli  n,  narrative  is  to  sur- 
render every  exercise  of  reason  and  tbouglit.  To  give 
credence  to  a  statement  bearing  oii  its  face  such  stupen- 
dous absurdity,  upon  mere  legendary  testimony,  involves 
such  a  degradation  of  the  understanding  as  no  man  of 
ordinary  capacity  could  have  voluntarily  descended  to, 
had  not  implicit  belief  in  the  truth  of  the  Scriptures 
formed  the  basis  of  his  early  spiritual  education. 

"We  do  not  think  that  in  justice  they  who  refuse  to 
give  credence  to  the  miraculous  legends  of  either  the 
Old  or  New  Testament  Scriptures  should  be  required  to 
furnish  proof  of  their  my thical  character ;  notwiihstand- 
ing  the  fact  that  so  respectable  an  authority  in  matters 
of  legal  evidence  as  Mr.  Greenleaf  asserts  that  the  bur- 
den of  proof  lies  upon  those  who  deny  the  assumed  truth 
of  the  miracles  of  the  Scriptures.  All  ancient  literature 
abounds  in  myths.  Take  avvay  from  the  poetry  of  Greece 
and  Rome  its  mytliical  element  and  little  remains.  Were 
we  constantly  called  upon  to  disprove  every  legend  of 
Greece  and  Home,  not  to  mention  the  more  ancient 
mytliologies  of  Egypt  and  India,  we  would  undertake  an 
endless  and  profitless  task.  Admitting  tliat  miracles  are 
possible,  how,  for  example,  could  we  from  contempora- 
neous testimony  disprove  the  allegation  of  the  beautiful 
allegorical  fable  that  Athene,  the  goddess  of  W-isdom, 
did  not  spring  panoplied  from  the  brain  of  Jupiter,  or 
that  Yulcan  v.-as  not  lamed  for  life  in  consequence  of  his 
expulsion  from  lieaven  and  fall  upon  the  island  of  Lem- 
nos ;  or,  even  coming  dovv-n  to  wliat  may,  comparatively, 
be  considered  historic  times,  that  Eomulus  and  Remus 
were  not  the  sons  of  Mars  by  a  vestal  virgin,  were  not 
cast  into  the  Tiber  and  nursed  bv  a  fcuiale  wolf;  or  that 


Theology  and  Mythology.  109 

Numa  did  not  receive  visits  and  instruction  from  the 
nympli  Egeria  ?  "We  cannot,  from  any  contradictory 
testimony  current  v;hen  these  fables  were  generally  ac- 
cepted as  true,  disprove  all  or  any  of  these  legends. 
Can  we  even  disprove  the  miracles  of  the  Koran  from 
any  opposing  concurrent  testimony  ?  They,  and  the 
wondrous  narrations  of  the  Yedas  of  India,  have  for  ages 
been  accepted  as  true,  and  become  the  foundations  of 
great  religious  systems  held  in  complete  veneration  by 
millions  of  the  human  race  for  ages.  The  worshipers  of 
Brahma  and  the  followers  of  Mahomet,  to-day,  vastly 
outnumber  the  followers  of  Jesus.  Shall  we  adopt  one 
rule  of  criticism  for  the  investigation  of  the  claims  of 
these  different  systems  ?  Shall  we  refuse  credence  to 
the  record  of  n^iraculous  events  narrated  in  the  Yedas 
and  the  Koran,  while  we  giv^e  unquestioned  assent  to 
every  story  that  comes  to  us  of  the  marvelous  preserved 
in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  ?  If  absurdities,  contradic- 
tions and  assertions  of  physical  impossibilities  character- 
ize the  crude  conceptions  of  the  primitive  races,  do  we 
not  find  an  attempt  at  their  reproduction  in  the  angelic 
appearances,  moving  stars  and  midnight  dreams  that  dis- 
figure the  portion  of  truth  contained  in  the  early  story 
of  tlie  origin  of  Christianity  ? 

Schleiermacher  has  well  said  of  the  anjrels  :  "  It  can- 
not  be  proved  that  no  such  beings  exist ;  nevertheless 
the  whole  conception  is  one  that  could  not  bo  born  in 
our  tunc ;  it  belongs  exclusively  to  the  prim.itive  idea  of 
the  world.  Not  from  one  line  of  reasoning,  but  from 
the  whole  mass  of  reasoning,  comes  this  immense  result : 
nothing  is  supernatural."  On  tiie  same  subject,  in  his 
preface  to   "  The    lyifo  of  Jesus,"  Littrc  observes :  '*  In 


110  Theology  and  Mythologij. 

rejecting  miracles,  the  modern  age  has  not  acted  from 
deliberate  purpose  ;  for  it  received  the  tradition  of  them, 
with  that  of  its  ancestors — always  dear  and  carefully 
kept — but  without  wishing  to  reject  them,  without  try- 
ing to  do  BO,  and  by  the  single  fact  of  the  development 
with  which  it  was  bursting.  An  experience  which  noth- 
ing has  ever  occurred  to  contradict  has  taught  it  that 
evei^y  miraculous  story  had  its  origin  in  vivid  imagina- 
tion,  in  coinplaisant  credxdity^  in  ignorance  of  riatural 
laws.  With  all  the  research  that  has  been  made,  no 
Tniracle  has  ever  been  wrought  lohere  it  could  be  ob- 
served and  jprovedP  Even  in  the  glimpses  the  gospel 
narratives  give  us  of  tlie  alleged  working  of  miracles, 
Jesus  seems  to  shrink  from  the  forced  or  unnatural  part 
he  was  in  a  manner  compelled  to  act  in  order  to  gratify 
the  love  of  the  marvelous  characteristic  of  his  age.  He 
repeatedly  declines  to  work  miracles.  ISTay,  more,  he 
emphatically  condemns  the  popular  demand  for  miracu- 
lous displays.  He  said  on  one  occasion :  "  A  wicked  and 
adulterous  generation  sceketh  after  a  sign,  but  no  sign 
shall  be  given,  save  tliat  of  the  prophet  Jonas."  He 
repudiated  the  habit,  too  often  indulged  in  by  teachers 
of  religion  even  of  our  own  days,  of  inferring  special 
providences  from  ordinary  accidents;  asking  his  follow- 
ers if  tliey  believed  tlie  people  upon  whom  the  Tower  of 
Siloam  fell  were  any  guiltier  than  others.  He  warns 
those  whose  mental  disorders  he  corrected  by  liis  sooth- 
ing influence — "casting  out  devils,"  as  it  is  in  tlie  lan- 
guage of  Scripture — to  "  go  their  way  and  sec  they  tell 
no  man  "  ;  so  little  did  he  court  notoriety  or  reputation 
arising  from  tliauraaturgy.  His  true  character  of  a  moral 
reformer  appeai-s  when  he  Avhipped  from  tlie  porch  of 


Theology  and  Mythology.  Ill 

the  temple  the  usurious  money-lenders,  and  when,  stand- 
ing on  the  liillside,  he  preaclied  that  noble  discourse, 
immortal  as  humanity,  the  "  Sermon  on_  the  Mount." 
How  diiierent  is  the  representation  of  his  chasing  dev- 
ils into  swine,  stpoping  down  and  w'riting  with  his  finger 
in  the  dust  when  called  upon  to  condemn  an  erring  wo- 
man whose  frailty  he  pitied,  or  on  another  occasion  going 
through  the  process — we  hate  and  hesitate  to  call  it  jug- 
gler}' — of  niixing  clay  with  his  spittle  and  "  anointing  " 
the  eyes  of  a  blind  man.  One  of  the  gospel  writers,  in 
a  moment  of  charming  frankness,  informs  us  that  even 
to  his  thaumaturgic  powers  there  were  limits,  as  "  Jesus 
could  do  no  mighty  work  there  because  of  their  unbe- 
lief." When  the  seventy  disciples  returned  to  him  after 
preaching  the  new  gospel,  filled  with  the  exultant  enthu- 
siasm the  novelty  of  their  mission  inspired,  and  vaunted, 
saying, "  Lord,  even  the  devils  arc  subject  unto  us  through 
tliy  name,"  he  dashed  the  cold  water  of  temperate  reason 
upon  their  hot  zeal,  saying,  "  Notwithstanding,  in  this 
rejoice  not  that  spirits  are  subject  unto  you ;  but  rather 
rejoice  because  your  names  are  wn-itten  in  heaven." 
Jesus,  like  all  great  reform.ers,  was  himself  in  advance  of 
the  conscience  as  well  as  the  intelligence  of  his  age ;  but 
in  order  to  render  his  mission  at  all  successful  he  was 
compelled  to  deal  gently  with  the  superstitions  of  his 
time.  Probably  he  was  not  himself  alt02;ether  divested 
of  them.  Fevv^  Avliolly  are.  Socrates,  whose  reason 
soared  above  the  mythologies  of  Greece,  yet  believed 
that  there  was  an  Inner  voice,  a  kind  of  a  tutelary  divin- 
it}'- within  him,  ever  impelling  or  restraining  liim  through 
life.  He  despised  oracular  responses ;  yd  he  took  ad- 
vantaire  of  tliat   cr.o  tliat  declared  him  to  be  tlie  wisest 


112  Theology  and  Mythology. 

of  tho  Grecians,  fis  it  afforded  liiin  an  opportanity  of  ex- 
posing tli3  pretensions  of  the  poets  and  philosophers. 
lie  showed  that  they  knew  nothing  with  certainty,  wliilc 
lie  had  reached  to  a  higher  plane  of  knowledge  in  know- 
ing that  he  knew  nothing. 


CHAPTER  III. 

If  wg  accept  tlic  theory  of  Divine  Inspiration  put 
forward  on  behalf  of  the  four  gospels  that  narrate  a  brief 
portion  of  tlie  public  and  private  life  of  Jesus,  we  become 
involved  in  inextricable  difficulty.  The  discrepancies 
existins:  in  the  account  of  the  miraculous  birth  of  Jesus 
are  inconsistent  with  any  idea  of  divine  inspiration.  If 
these  writings  were  inspired  by  the  Author  of  truth, 
they  would  contain  no  contradictions ;  nor  would  there 
bo  any  need  of  the  laborious  explanations  of  these  con- 
tradictions by  learned  commentators.  When  God  has  a 
message  for  humanity  there  will  exist  no  necessity  for 
explanation  or  modification ;  nor,  it  is  to  be  presumed, 
will  it  be  necessary  for  him  to  employ  four  men  to  do 
vei'Y  imperfectly  that  which  one  man  could  very  easily 
accomplish  under  divine  direction  and  dictation.  If, 
however,  we  regard  the  four  gospels  as  written  by  men 
whose  feelings  were  wrought  up  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
enthusiasm,  who  allowed  their  crednlity  to  carry  them 
fiir  beyond  the  limits  of  sober  reality,  who  accepted  easily 
as  true  what  they  desired  to  believe,  and  who,  without 
any  premeditated  intention  of  deceit,  allowed  imagination 


114:  Theology  and  Mijthology. 

to  wander  freelj  beyond  the  domain  of  fact ;  -who  wrote 
in  their  old  age,  or  in  some  cases  doubtless  dictated 
merely  to  zealous  amanuenses  their  recollections  of  the 
life  of  Jesus,  at  a  distance  of  time  from  the  occurrence 
of  the  alleged  events  varying  from  sixty  to  a  hundred 
years — many  of  the  difficulties  existing  in  the  narratives, 
irreconcilable  on  the  theory  of  inspiration,  may  be  ad- 
justed to  a  certain  idea  of  general  harmony  and  unity. 

We  are  not  among  those  who  believe  for  a  moment 
that  Christianity  v/as  a  scheme  and  conspiracy  concocted 
by  either  a  few  ignorant  fishermen  or  learned  rabbis  for 
instituting  a  new  religion ;  nor  do  we  believe  that  the 
four  gospels'were  composed  and  written  to  aid  and  abet 
any  such  conspiracy.  "VVe  agree  completely  with  Paul 
the  apostle  that  Christianity  was  not  a  cunningly  devised 
fable.  We  believe  that  it  was  the  natural  outcome  of 
the  religious  development  of  the  age  in  which  it  germi- 
nated, and  is  explainable,  as  such,  as  any  other  great 
moral  movement,  just  as  mucli  so  as  the  skepticism  of 
the  present  day.  If  this  view  be  the  correct  one,  then 
the  conflicting  statements  of  the  gospels,  though  they 
may  not  be  made  to  harmonize,  are  yet  susceptible  of 
explanation.  We  know  that  even  historical  v.-riters  will 
vary  very  considerably  in  their  treatment  of  the  same 
subject.  Even  actual  witnesses  will,  when  testifying  in 
courts  of  justice  under  the  sanctity  and  obligation  of  an 
oath,  give  different  accounts  of  the  transactions  that  have 
fallen  under  their  observation.  May  we  not  then  with 
reason  expect  that  in  the  four  accounts  of  the  life  of 
Jesus,  written  long  after  he  passed  awa}',  differences 
should  inevitably  exist?  That  they  do  exist  is  undeni- 
able.    The  gospels,  as  we  have  them  now,  were,  accord- 


Theology  and  Mythology.  115 

ine;  to  the  best  research  that  can  be  had  on  the  subject, 
not  generally  in  circulation,  and  even  not  compiled, 
within  less  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  death 
of  Jesus,  though  it  is  highly  probable  that  they  existed 
in  a  fragmentary  and  imperfect  form  within  the  first 
centur3^  No  one  can  read  the  compilations  bearing  the 
reputed  authorship  of  Matthew  and  Mark  and  not  be 
struck  with  the  conviction  that  the  compiler  of  the  one 
had  before  his  eyes  constantly  the  work  of  the  other.  In 
several  instances  the  exact  language  of  Matthew  is  fol- 
lowed by  Mark  in  his  description  of  the  same  events — 
totally  excluding  any  hypothesis  of  undesigned  coinci- 
dence. Christ  in  the  Scriptures  occupies  a  twofold  char- 
acter, and  is  viewed  in  a  duplex  aspect :  one  may  be 
denominated  the  theological  view,  the  other  the  humani- 
tarian. In  the  Epistles  and  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John 
we  are  presented  with  the  former,  in  the  three  gospels 
we  have  the  latter. 

Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  son  of  the  carpenter,  the 
houseless  wanderer,  the  enthusiast  avIio  lost  his  life  be- 
cause of  his  denunciation  of  hypocrisy  and  corruption, 
the  pure  moralist  whose  life  was  as  blameless  as  his  doc- 
trine, the  sans  cullote  (republican)  who  enunciated  the 
leveling  doctrine  of  the  equality  of  all  men  before  God 
and  the  brotherhood  of  the  human  race ;  who  saw  through 
and  exposed  the  pious  frauds  of  tliose  who  loved  to  stand 
praying  at  the  street  corners ;  who  opposed  the  arrogant 
presumptions  of  ecclesiastical  jugglery  and  priestcraft; 
whose  life  was  a  dream  of  ecstasy  ;*who,  by  the  shore  of 
the  lake,  by  the  river  side,  in  the  wilderness  or  on  the 
mountains,  so  struggled  with  the  mighty  thoughts  agitat- 
ing his  fine  organism  that  his  enemies  charged  that  he 


116  Theology  and  Mythology. 

was  possessed  of  a  devil ;  wlio  fasted  long  to  subdue  his 
physical  passions  and  bring  his  spiritual  nature  into 
closer  communion  with  the  silent  and  mystic  influences 
he  thought  surrounded  him ;  who  saw  nothing  insignifi- 
cant in  the  most  ordinary  processes  of  nature ;  who  burst 
the  bands  of  a  vigorous  and  exclusive  Judaism,  and  glo- 
ried not  in  being  either  a  son  of  Abraham  or  of  the  royal 
lineage  of  David,  but  sought  and  obtained  the  noblest 
distinction  of  being  called  emphatically  the  ''  Son  of 
Man  " ;  whose  life  was  so  obscure,  whose  exalted  cliarac- 
ter  was  confounded  with  that  of  a  mere  thaumaturgist ; 
who  Buffered  every  indignity  possible  to  conceive,  both 
from  a  thankless  rabble  and  a  bigoted  priesthood,  and 
finally  was  crucified  as  an  impious  blasphemer  of  God 
and  an  enemy  to  the  cause  of  order  and  good  govern- 
ment— this  is  the  Jesus  of  the  gospels,  or  rather  of  the 
first  three  earlier  gospels,  depicted  before  divine  honors 
were  claimed  for  him  by  others  who  sought  to  establish 
a  religious  society  founded  upon  his  teachings,  but  who 
incorporated  into  the  new  faith  a  creed  totally  foreign  to 
anything  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ever  taught  or  dreamed  of. 

Much  difficulty  exists  in  fixing  with  any  degree  of 
certainty  tlie  date  of  the  composition  of  the  gospels. 
The  conclusions  of  the  best  and  unprejudiced  scholars 
are  that  none  of  them  was  written  earlier  than  seventy 
years  after  the  death  of  Jesus.  Luke  was  certainly  writ- 
ten after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus  and  his 
son  Vespasian.  E-enan,  who  labors  hard  for  the  authen- 
ticity and  genuineness  of  the  gospels,  says  that  they  were 
the  echo  of  the  reports  of  the  first  century  after  Christ, 
It  is  not  possible  that  any  further  light  can   be  thrown 


Theology  and  Mythology.  117 

upon  the  subject.  Eeyond  the  settling  of  an  important 
historical  question,  the  exact  date  of  their  composition  is 
not  of  prime  importance  to  the  world.  We  know  enough 
to  know  that  sufficient  time  elapsed  between  the  death 
of  Jesus  and  their  composition  to  admit  of  the  many  ad- 
ditions and  narrations  of  miraculous  transactions  natural 
to  a  condition  of  civilization  that  ever  associated  the 
Kupernatural  with  any  great  result,  moral  or  physical. 
No  impartial  reader  of  the  gospel  narrative  can  fail  to 
be  struck  with  the  diflference  between  the  real  character 
of  Jesus  then  delineated  and  the  colossal  and  unreal  pro- 
portions he  is  made  to  assume  in  the  later  circular  letters 
of  the  different  apostles  to  the  different  churches.  Jesus, 
the  man  of  sorrows,  disappears.  The  friend  of  Lazarus, 
Mary  and  Martha  vanishes.  Jesus  dies.  Christ  is  risen. 
The  Son  of  Man  is  lost  not  only  in  the  Son  of  God,  but 
Christ  is  God,' the  Eternal  One,  by  whose  words  worlds 
were  framed,  and  the  Savior  gives  way  to  the  Awful 
Judge,  who  shall  deal  with  every  man  in  the  hereafter, 
according  to  his  works.  The  Christ  of  the  Epistles 
bearing  the  names  of  Peter,  James  and  Paul  in  hardly  a 
single  aspect  resembles  the  Jesus  of  Matthew,  Mark  and 
Luke.  No  promulgation  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Trinity, 
Predestination,  Justification  by  Faith,  and  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  world  through  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  the 
death  of  Jesus  on  the  cross,  is  put  forth  with  any  degree 
of  distinctness  in  the  narratives  of  the  men  who  were 
living  when  Jesus  entered  on  his  career  as  a  public 
teacher.  No  assumption  of  the  dignity  of  lordsliip, 
much  less  godijhip,  marked  liis  early  history  and  simple 
life.     He  discarded  even  tlie  title  of  "Master,"  telling 


118  Theology  and  Mythology. 

his  disciples  to  call  no  man  master.  A  dreamer  and  vis- 
ionary, lie  pushed  his  ideas  of  liberty  and  equality  ])e- 
yond  the  bounds  of  reason  and  the  necessities  of  social 
life  and  political  government.  He  condemned  extrava- 
gance in  dress  by  his  beautiful  allusion  to  the  lilies, 
"which  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin;  and  yet  Solomon 
in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these."  By 
the  illustration  of  God^s  care  for  the  sparrow  he  incul- 
cated iudiiierence  to  the  future :  "  Wherefore,  take  no 
thought  for  the  morrow,  saying,  what  shall  we  eat  or 
what  shall  we  drink, £)r  wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed; 
for  after  all  these  thinsis  do  tlie*  Gentiles  seek'."  As  the 
result  of  this  communistic  teaching  we  find  his  followers, 
for  a  short  period  after  his  death,  endeavoring  to  estab- 
lish churches  on  the  communistic  plan.  But,  as  every 
such  effort  is  antagonistic  to  the  progress  of  civilization, 
as  well  as  the  best  interests  of  society,  the  attempt  proved 
a  failure.  It  may  be  stated  as  a  fact  that  the  religion 
Jesus  tauQ:ht,  if  he  ever  tauo;ht  a  relijrion  in  the  strict 
sense  of  the  word,  which  we  doubt,  differed  materially 
from  the  Christology  of  his  disciples  and  apostles,  anc 
could  hardly  be  recognized  in  subsequent  Christianity — 
invested  with  imperial  power,  having  an  organized  hier- 
archy, magnificent  temples  and  imposing  ceremonic 
The  real  Jesus  of -Nazareth  lived  and  suffered  and  die 
much  in  the  same  m'anner  as  many  other  reformers  be 
fore  and  since  his  time.  The  ideal  Christ,  as  the  ages 
grew  darker,  and  as  time  in  its  flight  carried  the  world 
farther  awa}^  from  the  true  story  of  the  carpenter's  son, 
assumed  magnificent  proportions  ;  his  faith  overshadowed 
man's  intellect  and  gave  form  aud  color  to  European 


Theology  and  Mythology.  119 

civilization  for  eighteen  hundred  years,  and,  reaching 
the  sublime  heights  of  devotion,  buried  out  of  sight  the 
mild  Nazarene,  placing  upon  the  pedestal  he  ought  to 
have  •occupied  the  colossal  figure  of  an  incarnate  god! 


i 


CHAPTER  lY. 

Eknest  Henan,  in  his  "  Critical  History  of  Jesus," 
says  :  "  They  say  tliat  Aiigehco  of  Fiesole  never  painted 
the  lieads  of  the  Virgin  or  of  Clirist  except  on  his  knees ; 
it  would  be  well  for  criticism  to  imitate  his  example,  and 
after  having  adored  them  to  face  the  radiance  of  certain 
ligures  before  which  the  ages  have  bent  low."  He  fur- 
ther adds  :  "  The  first  duty  of  the  philosopher  is  to  swell 
the  chorus  of  humanity  in  worship  of  moral  goodness 
and  beauty,  exhibited  in  all  noble  characters  and  ele- 
vated symbols."  If  a  painter  will  paint  a  better  picture 
of  tlie  head  of  the  Virgin,  or  any  other  head,  by  going 
upon  liis  knees,  the  world,  only  concerned  in  the  produc- 
tion of  a  good  picture,  will  offer  no  special  objection  to 
ihc  assumption  of  that  or  any  other  posture  the  paintef 
may  desire  to  assume.  The  picture,  and  not  the  posture 
is  all  it  cares  for.  AVhen,  however,  it  becomes  the  duty 
of  criticism  to  discuss  any  historical  question  of  impor- 
tance, no  worse  attitude  than  the  one  Renan  alludes  to 
can  be  possibly  assumed.  When  we  have  "adored"  any 
figure  without  investigating  its  claims  to  adoration,  we 
render  ourselves  utterly  incapable  of  independent  criti- 


Tluology  and  Mythology.  121 

« 

cism.  Nor  is  it  the  duty  of  the  philosopher  to  "  swell 
any  chorus  of  humanity"  iiutil  he  first  ascertains  whether 
the  sons  and  the  chorus  are  founded  on  eternal  verities. 
Because  we  have  too  many  "adored  figures"  and 
'•  swelled  choruses,"  he^ause  from  the  first  dawn  of  the 
light  of  our  intellectual  faculties  have  we  been  too  much 
given  up  to  the  blind  worship  of  human  characters  or 
theological  abstractions,  do  we,  in  after  life,  when  reason 
demands  the  grounds  of  belief,  find  the  independence  of 
our  judgment  unsettled  and  the  clearness  of  our  vision 
obstructed  by  the  mists  of  superstition  that  have  clouded 
the  morning  of  life.  Educated  as  we  are,  one-third  of 
our  life  is  spent  in  acquiring  ideas  and  impressions  that 
the  investie;ation  of  tlie  succeeding  third  demonstrates 
the  falsity  of,  while  oftentimes  the  remaining  portion  of 
our  da^'s  is  passed  in  indifference  as  to  the  truth  or  error 
of  any  creed  or  dogma  not  affecting  our  immediate  and 
personal  interests. 

We  should  doubtless  deal  gently  with  the  failings  or 
excesses  of  the  great  men  who  have  conferred  benefit 
upon  the  race ;  but  we  neitlier  exalt  them  nor  advance 
the  cause  of  truth  by  lifting  them  above  the  laws  of  hu- 
man existence. 

■  We  want  to  know  Alexander  as  the  son  of  Philip  of 
lacedon,  not  of  Jupiter  Ammon.  Socrates  has  our 
sj'mpath}'-,  not  because  by  one  brave  deed  he  drank  hem-'' 
lock  in  obedience  to  law,  but  because  he  endured  with 
^morc  than  heroic  fortitude  the  incompatibility  of  Xan- 
tippe.  Of  the  inner  lives  of  the  great  men  of  even  com- 
paratively modern  times  we  know  little.  Who  knows 
anything  worthy  of  record  of  the  private  life  of  Shaks- 
peare  ?     The  authorship  of  even  the  ])lnys  that  bear  his 


122  Theology  and  Jfythology, 

name   is  still  a  matter  of  doubt.     The  acquisition    of 
knowledge  is  tlie  object  of  all  inquiry.     Historical  re- 
search is  attractive,  because  we  desire  to  know  what  has 
preceded  our  own  appearance  upon  the  stage  of  human 
existence.     This  desire  it  is  that  lifts  man  above  the 
brutes  that  perish.     Knowledge  enables  him  to  general- 
ize, and  to  form  some  intelligent  comprehension  of  his 
relation  not  only  to  the  phenomena  of  the  present,  but 
to  the  vanished  specter  of  the  past,  and,  in  some  sort, 
permits  him  to  cast  the  horoscope  of  the  future.     It  is 
evident  that,  to  whatever  extent  he  allows  feelings  of 
reverence,  adoration  or  early  impressions  to  influence 
him,  to  the  same  extent  will  his  conceptions  of  the  men 
and  social  or  political  movements  of  antiquity  deviate 
from  the  standard  of  rigid  truth.     Sallust  justly  remarks 
that  the  exploits  of  the   Greeks  were  sutficiently  great 
and  glorious,  but  were  not  quite  so  magnificent  as  fame 
had  reported  them,  and  assigns  as  a  reason  that  Greece 
had  produced  writers  of  great  ability.     One  of  tlie  chief 
impediments  to  historical  research  arises  from  the  strug- 
gle constantly,  though  silently,  waged  between  the  de- 
ductions of  reason  and  the  influence  of  early  impressions, 
or,  as  Renan  puts  it,  from  painting  pictures  on  our  knees. 
Almost  every  child  born  in  a  Christian  land  has  been,  to 
some  extent,  when  the  receptive  faculties  were  plasti',, 
brought  under  the  influence  of  religious  instruction  an4  ' 
training.    The  reasoning  powers  were  never  called,  at  | 
this  stage,  into  exercise.     The  child  is  told  that  God/ 
-lives  in  heaven,  wherever  that  may  be,  and  that  he  made  ' 
the  world.     He  is  thus  left  to  form  the  childish  idea  of  a 
personal  God.     Even  before  he  was  capable  of  any  intri- 
cate combination  of  ideas,  he  was  further  informed  that 


Theology  and  Mijthology.  123 

Jesus  Christ  was  both  God  and  the  Son  of  God  as  well 
as  the  Son  of  Man.  That  this  is  a  rational  system  of 
education  few  unprejudiced  minds  will  admit.  It  leads 
naturall3'-  to  infidelity.  "When  reason  asserts  its  inde- 
pendence, the  man  will  repudiate  the  impositions  that 
have  been  practiced  upon  him  when  his  faith  in  every 
statement  made  to  him  by  those  whose  authority  he  rev- 
erenced was  unquestioned.  Failing  to  see  the  harmony 
between  the  God  of  his  childhood,  who  loved  his  crea- 
tures and  yet  permitted  the  majority  of  them  to  be  cap- 
tured by  the  Devil ;  unable  to  recognize  any  consistency 
in  the  assertion  that  God  is  omnipotent,  and  yet  suffers 
an  inferior  creature  called  Satan  to  mar  his  work  and 
drag  down  into  endless  perdition  and  unutterable  torture 
millions  of  God's  creatures  for  whom  God's  son  died — 
nothing  remains  henceforth  for. the  enfranchised  intelli- 
gence but  atheism  or  utter  indifierence  to  all  eo-called 
religious  teaching.  The  nursing  mother,  the  Church, 
then  takes  hold  of  him.  She  does  not  seek  to  undo  the 
wrong  she  has  inflicted  upon  his  outraged  intelligence, 
but  she  kindl}',  with  bell,  book  and  candle,  excommuni- 
cates him  from  the  body  of  the  faithful.  Thougli  he  is 
just  v.'hat  she  made  him,  he  is  called  heretic,  infidel  and 
atheist.  He  is  dangerous  to  societ}^,  and  it  were  an  act 
^f  kindness  to  destro}''  him,  lest  his  leprosy  infect  sound 
members.  Then  the  spirit  of  inquiry  was  extinguished 
>y  the  loathsome  dungeon  ;  he  was  stretched  upon  the 
ick,  his  bones  were  pulled  out  of  joint;  the  nails  were 
•rn  from  his  flesh ;  his  poor  eyes,  that  loved  to  look 
■)on  the  sun  and  the  sweet  face  of  nature — in  default  of 
od — he  adored,  were  rendered  sightless  by  red  hot 
rons;  his   tongue   was   torn   out  by  the  roots;  his  feet 


121  Theology  and  Mythology. 

were  crashed  in  ii'on  boots ;  and  lie  was  at  last  merci- 
fully roasted  alive  over  a  slow  fire  ;  while  faithful  Chris- 
tians stood  by  and  applauded  the  infliction  of  the  most 
refined  and  excruciating  tortures  upon  a  human  crea- 
ture that  the  devils  in  hell,  if  any  there  be,  would  have 
hung  their  heads  in  shame  at  witnessing.  Yet  this  ineff- 
able infamy  arose,  in  a  great  measure,  from  the  pernicious 
habit  of  painting  on  one's  knees.  Hence  it  is  diflicult, 
in  view  of  the  monstrous  atrocities  perpetrated  in  the 
name  of  religion,  to  paint  upon  one's  knees  even  the  in- 
nocent character  of  him  under  the  "  sanction  "  of  whose 
great  name  such  indelible  infamies  have  been  inflicted 
upon  humanity.  Hence  it  is,  too,  that  if,  in  examining 
too  closely  "  the  figures  of  antiquity,"  the  varnish  be 
rubbed  a  little  off  of  them,  the  fault  is  not  with  the  honest 
critic,  but  with  the  perpetrators  of  pious  frauds,  who,  in 
order  to  add  color  to  these  impositions,  have  smeared 
over  the  true  figures  Avith  incrustations  of  myths  and 
falsehoods.  Jesus  of  Nazareth  never  claimed  for  himself 
an  origin  different  from  the  common  heritas-e  of  human- 
it}'.  It  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  never,  even  in  mo- 
ments of  most  exalted  inspiration,  did  he  dream  of  such 
a  vast  and  overshadowing  system  of  religion  that,  in  the 
process  of  the  ages,  assumed  from  an  origin  so  humble 
and  obscure  such  magnificent  proportions.  How  the 
poor  Galilean,  who,  to  use  his  own  graphic  expression, 
"had  not  where  to  lay  his  head,"  would  have  been  daz- 
zled and  appalled  had  some  hand  thrust  aside  the  veil 
tliat  hid  the  future  from  his  view  and  revealed  to  his  >4 
bewildered  intelligence  the  grandeur,  both  in  its  extent  \ 
and  cruelty,  of  the  ecclesiastical  organization  which  in  after  ^ 
ages  elevated  him  not  only  above  the  gods  of  antiquity, 


Theology  and  Mythology.  125 

but  assigned  liiin  a  position  equal  and  identical  witli 
that  of  the  Creator  of  the  infinite  and  eternal  Universe ! 
If,  as  he  passed  through  the  wlieaten  fields  of  Palestine 
on  that  Sabbath  morning,  and,  invited .  by  no  man, 
plucked  the  ears  to  satisfy  his  hunger,  he  could  have 
foreseen  the  countless  millions  in  the  future  bowing  down 
at  the  mention  of  his  name ;  could  his  vision  have  rested 
upon  the  magnificent  temples  to  be  erected  in  his  honor, 
altars  laden  with  gold  and  precious  stones,  and  a  priest- 
hood serving  at  more  than  ten  thousand  altars,  engaged 
in  a  new  worship,  surpassing  in  magnificence  that  of  his 
own  nation  while  Solomon's  temple  stood — what  a  vista 
of  glory  indescribable  he  would  have  revealed  to  the 
motley  company  of  ragged  and  hungry  disciples  who 
followed  liim  !  Or  how  bitter  would  have  seemed  the 
mockciy  of  tlic  fantastic  panorama  to  him  as  lie  sat 
down,  tired  with  a  weary  journey,  by  the  v/ell  of  Jacob, 
and  asked  a  Samaritan  courtesan  for  a  drink  of  cultl 
water ! 

The  moral  and  spiritual  utterances  of  Christ,  such  as 
have  come  down  to  us,  if  collected  in  connected  form, 
instead  of  being  scattered  with  variations  and  additions 
througk  the  gospels,  would  liardly  occupy  as  much  space 
as  the  column  of  one  of  our  daily  newspapers.  Yet  upon 
the  fragments  of  these  detached  utterances  the  wdiole  sys- 
tem of  Christian  theology,  embodied  in  the  Epistles  and 
incorporated  into  creeds  and  dogmas,  is  based.  Conced- 
ing the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  to  be  most  admirable  botli 
in  its  structure  and  the  humanizing  spirit  it  breathes,  yet 
it  must  be  admitted  that  the  noble  truths  embodied  in 
this  matchless  discourse  were  given  to  tlic  world  long 
before  their  delivery  in  Judea.     The  "  Golden  Rule  " 


126  Theology  and  Mythology. 

was  tanglit,  we  know,  by  Confucius  iu  disiirict  and  un- 
mistakable language.  Socrates,  Aristippus,  Aristotle, 
Sextus,  Marcus  Aurelius  and  otliers  taught  it  and  lived 
it  as  nearly  as  mortals  can.  Buckle,  in  his  "  History  of 
Civilization,"  truly  remarks :  "  The  system  of  morals 
propounded  in  the  New  Testament  contained  no  maxim 
that  had  not  been  previously  enunciated ;  and  that  some 
of  the  most  beautiful  passages  in  the  apostles'  writings 
are  quotations  from  pagan  authors  is  well  known  to  every 
scholar ;  and  so  far  from  supplying,  as  some  suppose,  an 
objection  against  Christianity,  it  is  a  strong  recommenda- 
tion of  it,  as  indicating  the  intimate  relation  between  the 
doctrines  of  Christ  and  the  moral  sympathies  of  mankind 
in  different  ages.  But  to  assert  that  Christianity  com- 
municated to  man  moral  truths  previously  unknown  ar- 
gues on  the  part  of  the  asserter  either  gross  ignorance  or 
M-illful  fraud."  For  evidence  of  the  knowledge  of  moral 
truths  possessed  by  barbarous  nations,  independently  of 
Christianity,  compare  Mackny's  '"  Religious  Develop- 
ment," Muir's  "History  of  Greek  Literature,"  the  works 
of  Sir  William  Jones,  and  Mills'  "  Histoiy  of  India." 
The  development  of  the  Messianic  idea  rendered  the  dis- 
ciples of  Jesus  favorable  to  his  teaching  and  that  of  John 
the  Baptist.  The  Jewish  nation,  owing  to  its  sad  and 
bitter  experience  of  two  captivities,  national  humiliation 
as  well  as  individual  oppression,  had,  at  the  time  of  the 
birth  of  Jesus,  almost  lost  faith  iu  the  expectation  of  the 
advent  of  the  son  of  David  in  the  character  of  a  great 
warrior  who  should  restore  the  kingdom  of  Israel  in  all 
its  pristine  glory.  That  such  expectations  were  indulged- 
in  is  apparent  from  tlic  question  put  to  Jesus,  "Lord, 
wilt  thou  at  this  time  restore  the  kingdom   to  Israel  ?" 


Theology  and  Mythology.  127 

Tliese  expectations  readied  their  burlesque  climax  on 
tlic  occasion  of  the  entry  of  Jesus  into  Jerusalem,  riding 
upon  an  ass,  Avliile  his  followers  cut  down  palm  branches 
and  threw  them,  and  even  the  clothing  they  wore,  in  the 
way,  in  order  that  the  procession  might  assume  an  ap- 
pearance of  a  triumphal  entry.  The  assumption  of  a 
ragged  royalty  was  destitute  of  an}^  political  significance, 
though  it  may  liave  furnished  the  materials  of  a  plausible 
accusation  against  Jesus  by  his  enemies  the  priests,  who 
were  ever  on  the  alert  to  bring  home  to  him  some  viola- 
tions of  the  laws  that  would  bring  him  under  the  ban  of 
the  Roman  power.  Even  long  anterior  to  the  birth  of 
Jesus  the  Messianic  idea  had  lost  its  vitality  and  changed 
its  form  with  the  waning  fortunes  of  the  Jewish  race. 
Isaiah  had  more  than  once  alluded  to  the  future  hero, 
crushed  with  the  burden  of  national  humiliation — "  a 
man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief" — and  who, 
embodying  the  miseries  of  a  broken  and  divided  nation 
as  well  as  a  conquered  people,  wrs  led  as  a  sheep  to  the 
slaughter. 

It  does  seem  that  Jesus,  when  the  supreme  hour  of 
his  career  approached,  was  tempted  for  a  moment  into 
a  measure  of  armed  resistance  to  the  constituted  authori- 
ties. When  lie  saw  the  lines  of  the  hunters  closino; 
around  him,  he  told  his  disciples  to  procure  weapons  of 
defense;  telling  him  that  had  no  sword  to  sell  his  coat 
and  buy  one.  His  few  followers  did  arm  themselves 
after  a  fashion,  and  one  of  his  disciples,  whose  zeal  ever 
outran  discretion,  cut  off  the  ear  of  one  Malchus,  a  serv- 
ant of  the  priest.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  only 
casualty  attending  the  capture  of  Jesus.  Yet  one  can 
plainly  see  that  even  this  sho^^'  of  resistance  was  Avholly 


128  Theology  and  Mythology. 

Ibreign  to  the  disposition  of  him  Avho  said,  "  If  thine 
eiieni}^  smite  thee  on  the  right  cheek,  turn  nnto  him  the 
left  also."  Jesns  promptly  rebiiked  Peter,  adding,  "The 
cnp  which  my  father  hath  given  me,  shall  I  not  drink  ?" 
Doubtless  his  fine  nature,  full  of  sympathy  for  the  whole 
Imman  race,  needed  only  this  single  exhibition  of  un- 
seemly and  undignified  resistance  to  regain  its  native 
sweetness  and  composure,  and  to  meet  the  inevitable 
with  the  serenity  of  a  moralist  and  the  fortitude  of  a  mar- 
tyr. From  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life  and  character  one 
cannot  fail  to  perceive  that  Jesus  never  seriously  enter- 
tained any  intention  of  enacting  the  part  of  either  a  war- 
rior or  statesman,  by  whose  efforts  the  independence  of 
the  Jewish  race  was  to  be  restored.  Nor  did  he  seek  by 
the  employment  of  force  the  propagation  of  his  views. 
On  the  contrary,  he  denounced  its  employment  in  the 
most  emphatic  language :  "  All  they  that  take  up  the 
sword  shall  perish  by  the  sword."  He  was  not  even  a 
patriot,  though  belonging  to  one  of  tlie  most  exclusive 
races  on  earth.  He  seems  to  have  lacked  not  only 
the  sentiment  of  patriotism,  which  among  the  Greeks 
and  tlie  Romans  was  stronger  tlian  the  religious  senti- 
ment, but  he  appears  to  liave  ignored  the  ties  of  blood 
and  kindred,  considering  them  as  accidents  of  birth  of] 
little  or  no  consequence.  God  w;i3  his  father,  and  every 
man — Jew  and  Gentile,  rich  or  poor  (and  especially  thoJ 
poor  man),  saint  or  sinner,  the  maniac,  supposed  byj 
a  barbarous  people  to  be  possessed  of  a  devil,  and! 
the  outcast  leper — was  his  brother.  Patriotism,  family! 
affections  and  the  ties  of  blood  all  seem  to  have  sunk  out] 
of  bight  in  the  soundless  sea  of  his  yearning  love  for  hu- 
manity.    If  ever  a  man  realized  in  all  its  holy  and  lofty 


Theology  and  M'ytholog]/.  129 

significance  the  idea  of  the  brotherhood  of  man  and  the 
fatherhood  of  God,  it  was  trnlj  Jesns  of  I^azareth. 
When  it  was  told  him,  on  one  occasion,  while  engaged 
in  his  service  to  hnmanity,  that  his  mother  and  his  breth- 
ren stood  withont,  desiring  to  see  him,  he  turned  npon 
his  interrupter  with  almost  savage  abruptness,  and  in 
sharp  rebuke  exclaimed,  "  Who  is  my  mother  and  who 
are  mj  brethren  ?  Whosoever  doeth  the  will  of  my 
Father  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  mother  and  brother 
and  sister."  To  his  far-reaching  sympathy  his  natural 
brother  was  but  a  human  being,  and  every  human  being 
was  to  him  both  mother,  brother  and  sister. 

Certainly  one  entertaining  the  cosmopolitan  sympa- 
thies of  Jesus  v^'ould  least  of  all  be  qualified  to  act  the 
part  of  a  Messiah  such  as  the  Jews,  a  most  unsociable 
and  exclusive  race,  at  one  period  of  their  historj^  enter- 
tained definite  conceptions  of.  He  emphatically  declared, 
when  charged  with  treason,  that  his  kingdom  was  not  of 
this  world.  When  Pilate,  as  John's  gospel  relates,  asked 
him  if  he  were  king  of  the  Jews,  he  repelled  the  assump- 
tion of  any  regal  claims,  as  though  there  was  something 
absurd  in  such  an  accusation,  sarcastically  replying, 
"Thou  savest  that  I  am  a  kins: !"  He  added,  leavinir 
no  doubt  as  to  the  nature  of  his  mission,  "  To  this  end 
came  I  into  the  world,  and  for  this  cause  was  I  born  : 
that  I  might  bear  witness  unto  the  truth."  In  the  judg- 
ment-hall of  Pilate,  when  death  in  its  most  shameful 
aspect  and  dreadful  form  awaited  him  ;  in  the  supreme 
hour  when  the  sands  of  life  were  fast  sinking  in  the  glass 
of  time,  when  the  substance  and  the  shadow  became  alike 
indistinct,  when  the  past  and  the  present  seemed  but  a 
vanishing  dream — he  claimed  no  divine  or  supernatural 


130  Theology  and  Mythology. 

origin,  no  sovereignty  or  dominion  over  the  eternal  and 
changeless  laws  of  nature ;  he  did  not  even  claim  that 
he  had  given  to  the  world  a  new  revelation  ;  he  only  as- 
serted that  he  was  born  into  the  world  that  he  inin:ht  add 
to  the  list  of  the  deathless  names  who  "  have  borne  wit- 
ness to  the  truth." 

The  great  cardinal  doctrijies  of  Christianity  are:  the 
salvation  of  the  world  tlirougii  the  blood  or  death  of 
Clii'ist,  justification  by  faith,  and  the  divinity  of  Jesus. 
There  are,  of  course,  many  minor  doctrines  dependent 
on  these  as  corollaries  from  great  propositions.  The 
doctrine  of  atonement  is  not  a  novel  one.  Appeasing 
and  propitiating  gods  and  demons  by  sacrificial  offerings 
and  gifts  is  older  than  any  existing  form  of  religion 
among  mankind.  It  has,  in  one  form  or  another,  formed 
a  distinctive  feature  of  the  religious  worship  of  every 
race  on  the  face  of  tlie  earth  that  ever  entertahied  relig- 
ious conceptions.  It  has  incorporated  itself  with  relig- 
ious service  equally  in  Judca  and  in  Mexico.  Sacrificial 
offerings  have  been  tendered  to  heaven  with  bloody  rites 
by  a  savage  priesthood  in  the  dark  recesses  of  the  gloomy 
forests  of  Gaul  and  Britain  and  amid  the  arid  wastes  of 
Africa.  The  smoke  of  the  burnt  carcasses  of  animals 
offered  to  appease  ofi^ended  deities  has  tainted  the  pure 
air  of  heaven  ascending  from  the  lands  watered  by  tlie 
Ganges,  the  Kile,  the  Mississippi,  the  Thames,  the  Ori- 
noco and  the  Danube.  The  religion  of  the  Jews,  though 
monotheistic  ostensibly,  had,  at  almost  the  birtli  of  the 
nation,  become  infected  with  the  worst  practices  of  pagan 
idolatry.  Thus  we  find  Moses  commanding  the  people 
that  they  should  '•  make  no  cutting  in  tlie  flesh,"  nor  mu- 
tilate themselves  for  the  dead,  nor  suffer  their  children 


Theology  and  Mythology.  131 

to  pass  tliror.gli  tlic  fire  to  Moloeli.  The  story  of  tlio 
Jewish  Jeptha's  vow,  by  wliich  he  hound  himself  to  sacri- 
iice  his  own  daughter,  finds  a  parallel  in  that  of  Iphige- 
nia,  in  Aulis. 

Sacrificial  worship  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  barbarous 
condition  of  society.  The  uin-easouing  savage  regarded 
tempests,  floods,  eartl) quakes,  pestilences,  the  presence 
of  wild  beasts  and  noxious  reptiles  as  visitations  of  divine 
anger.  His  savage  experience,  limited  as  it  was,  taught 
him  that  enemies  are  to  be  appeased  with  gifts.  AYhat 
reasoning  more  natural  than  that  he  should  propitiate 
the  anger  of  inimical  gods  in  a  similar  manner  ?  Noali, 
when  lie  escaped  destruction  from  a  flood  that  devastated 
the  country  wdiere  he  dwelt,  could  not  give  the  god,  that 
preserved  him,  food  and  choice  gifts  actually ;  but  he 
could  reach  him  M'ith  the  savor  of  burnt-offerino-s  tluit 
ascended  to  heaven  and  entered,  as  we  are  told  with  un- 
affected plainness,  the  nostrils  of  Jehovah,  immediately 
after  the  flood.  Jehovah  was  more  than  satisfied ;  he 
even  repented  of  the  evil  he  had  wrought,  and  graciously 
promised  that  he  would  no  more  curse  the  ground  for 
man's  sake,  nor  smite  any  living  thing  as  he  had  done  ; 
and  that,  while  earth  remaiueth,  seedtime  and  harvest, 
and  cold  and  heat,  summer  and  winter,  and  day  and 
night,  shall  not  cease.  (Gen.  viii,  20,  et  seq.)  C?esar 
found  Gaul  and  Britain,  fifty-six  years  before  the  time  of 
Christ,  sustaining  the  Druidical  worship,  which  was  one 
of  the  most  sanguinary  and  cruel  that  ever. prevailed  in 
Europe.  Human  sacrifices  were  repeatedly  off'ered  up 
by  hundreds  on  stone  altars,  the  victims  being  usually 
furnished  from  the  captives  taken  in  battle.  Samuel, 
the  inspired  prophet  of  Israel,  hewed  King  Agag  in 


1?'2  Theology  and  lyfythology. 

pieces  before  the  Lord.  Elijah,  anotlier  inspired  prophet 
of  the  first  rank  and  class,  reddened  the  waters  of  the 
brook  Kishon  with  the  blood  of  four  hundred  and  fifty 
of  the  prophets  and  priests  of  Baal,  who  failed  to  make 
fire  from  heaven  lick  np  the  water  surrounding  the  altar 
of  burnt  sacrifices,  when  tlie  worshipers  of  both  gods, 
Jehovah  and  Baal,  had  agreed  to  make  this  a  test  case. 
(I  Kings,  xviii.)  The  antiquity  and  universality,  almost, 
of  sacrificial  otferings  are  too  well  established  to  need 
any  discussion.  To  trace  the  history  of  sacrificial  offer- 
ings would  be  to  write  that  of  every  religious  system. 
In  the  Jewish  religion  the  sacrificial  idea  had  obtained 
its  highest  development — so  much  so  that  it  had  passed 
into  a  religious  axiom  that  "  without  shedding  of  blood 
there  was  no  remission  of  sin."  The  author  of  the  book 
of  Genesis  seems  to  have  been  well  acquainted  with  this 
doctrine.  He  represents  Jehovah  accepting  the  bloodj' 
sacrifices  of  Abel,  while  he  spurned  the  bloodless  fruits 
of  the  earth  offered  by  Cain.  By  the  most  ingenious 
species  of  sophistry,  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews attempts  to  show  that  "  by  faith  Abel  offered  unto 
God  a  more  acceptable  sacrifice  than  Cain ;  by  which  he 
obtained  witness  that  he  was  righteous,  God  testifying 
of  his  gifts." 

Judged  by  the  liglit  of  reason,  by  sentiment  and  all 
the  purest  instincts  of  our  nature,  one  would  imagine 
that  did  the  Sovereign  Ruler  of  the  Universe  need  offer- 
ings from  human  hands,  he  would  derive  more  pleasure 
from  the  spectacle  of  altars  decked  with  flowers  and 
fruits,  and  the  beautiful  trophies  of  man's  toil  and  indus- 
try, than  from  those  besmeared  with  the  lifcblood  of  in- 
oftensive  animals,  butchered  for  his  glorj'.     But  blood- 


I 


'Theology  and  Mythology.  133 

shedding  is  a  savage  instinct,  and  man  has,  in  all  ages, 
"made  God  in  his  own  image  and  likeness."  The  book 
of  Leviticus  is  well  worth  perusal,  if  alone  for  the  pur- 
pose of  showing  how  completely  the  idea  of  sacrificial 
atonement  had  entered,  not  only. into  the  celebration  of 
the  Jewish  worship,  but  had  penetrated  every  circum- 
stance and  condition  of  individual  life.  But  in  the  slow 
process  of  the  development  of  the  intelligence,  the  effi- 
cacy of  sacrificial  oiferings  began  to  be  cpiestioned. 
Were  it  not  so,  the  Hebrew  poet,  with  a  spirit  of  spirit- 
ual independence  far  in  advance  of  his  age,  could  not 
liave  said,  "  Shall  I  indeed  eat  bulls'  flesh  and  drink  the 
blood  of  goats  ?  Are  not  all  the  beasts  of  the  forests 
mine,  and  the  cattle  upon  ten  thousand  hills  ?"  But  in 
no  portion  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures  do  we  find  anything 
to  support  the  idea  that  sacrificial  offerings  were  employed 
for  the  purpose  of  escaping  punishment  in  a  future  state 
of  existence,  due  to  sins  committed  in  this  life.  Nor  do 
we  find  anything  to  sustain  this  view  in  the  whole  range 
of  ancient  literature,  previous  to  the  propagation  of 
Christianity,  whether  denominated  sacred  or  profane. 
The  Jews,  as  well  as  other  nations  and  races,  entertained 
no  definite  conceptions  of  life  after  death.  No  traces  of 
the  immortality  of  the  soul  exist  in  the  Old  Testament 
wiitings,  and  as  for  tlic  resurrection  of  the  body,  the 
very  idea  of  such  a  physical  absurdity  entered  no  man's 
conceptions.  They  had  recourse  to  sacrificial  ofierings 
to  propitiate  the  anger  of  the  gods,  and  to  secure  their 
favor  in  the  actual  transactions  of  life.  Jehovah  never 
promised  his  worshipers  happiness  beyond  the  grave. 
The  usual  injunction  was,  "  This  do  that  thou  shalt  live.'' 
"  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  tliat  tliy  days  may 


134  Theology  and  Mythology'. 

bo  long  in  the  land  tlic  Lord  thy  God  givetli  tlieo." 
Temporal  prosperity  and  long  life  were  promised  to  the 
observers  of  the  divine  law.  Never,  in  any  instance  that 
we  know  of,  was  there  any  reference  to  the  joys  of  heaven 
or  the  tortures  of  hell. 

Jesus  never  preached  the  doctrine,  now  so  common, 
of  the  salvation  of  the  world  through  his  blood,  shed  in  a 
sacrificial  sense.  This  doctrine  was  painfully  and  inge- 
niously elaborated  by  his  followers,  who  took  little  from 
him  except  his  name  to  add  weight  to  the  system  they, 
after  his  death,  established.  Jesus  says  (John  xvii,  4) : 
"  I  have  glorified  thee  on  earth.  I  have  finished  the 
work  which  thou  gavest  me  to  do."  This  expression 
would  be  utterly  unintelligible  did  Christ  believe  that 
the  world  was  to  be  saved  through  the  shedding  of  his 
blood.  His  blood  was  not  yet  shed,  and  therefore  the 
great  work  of  the  salvation  of  the  human  soul  was  yet 
unfinished.  If  the  "  salvation"  of  the  world  has  been  in 
any  sense  afibcted  by  Jesus,  it  has  been  by  his  life,  not 
by  the  cruel  and  shameful  form  of  death  inflicted  upon 
him  by  a  bigoted  rabble  and  an  indifferent  Roman  gov- 
ernor of  a  conquered  province.  Yet  the  world  goes  on 
stupidly  ignoring  the  noble  life  of  Jesus,  shocking  every 
enlightened  conscience  by  insisting  that  the  shedding  of 
a  few  drops  of  the  physical  fluid  called  blood  that  fell 
upon  the  dust  of  Palestine  two  thousand  years  ago,  when 
a  brutal  Roman  soldier  touched  with  liis  spear  the  side 
of  the  expiring  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  has  redeemed  man- 
kind, appeased  the  anger  of  an  oflfended  God,  and  un- 
barred the  crj^stal  gates  of  heaven  to  the  whole  human 
race,  tliat  otherwise  would  have  rushed  forever  into  the 
gaping  jaws  of  tlie  insatiate  pit  and  the  lake  of  brimstone. 


Theology  and  ^fythology.  135 

Measured  by  the  Jewish  conception  of  sacrificial  offer- 
ing, the  death  of  Jesus,  granting  for  a  moment  that  the 
God  of  the  Universe  would  accept  the  blood  of  a  man  or 
a  god  as  an  atonement  for  moral  guilt,  lacks  all  the  es- 
sential attributes  of  a  sacrifice.  The  death  of  a  human 
or  divine  being  b}''  crucifixion  could  be  reckoned  in  no 
sense  a  sacrifice.  There  was  the  victim,  it  is  true,  but 
priest  and  fire  and  altar  were  wanting.  The  only  priest 
who  could  have  ofliciated  on  an  occasion  so  tragic  and  so 
pregnant  with  the  eternal  destinies  of  mankind  would 
have  been  the  Omnipotent  God  himself.  He  alone,  to 
preserve  tlie  liarmony  of  -the  sacrificial  conception,  must 
liavc  stood  beside  the  altar  and  plunged  the  knife  into 
the  quivering  heart  of  the  victim.  Kay,  more :  if  the 
claim  of  the  New-Testament  theology  be  true,  God  him- 
self was  tlie  victim,  and  committed  self-immolation  to 
appease  himself !  Do  all  the  contradictions  of  all  the 
religious  conceptions  ever  evolved  by  the  human  race, 
savage  or  civilized,  contain  an  absurdity  at  once  so  re- 
volting and  offensive  to  conscience  and  intelligence  as 
this  ?  The  sacrifice  of  God  for  the  salvation  of  man ! 
Yet  the  sacrifice  was  a  deception,  and  the  death  a  pre- 
tense, as  in  a  few  hours  after  the  occurrence  the  sacri- 
ficial offering  was  alive  and  apparently  in  good  health, 
showing  to  his  incredulous  disciples  the  marks  of  the 
wounds  in  his  side  and  the  imprint  in  his  feet  and  hands 
of  the  nails  that  held  him  to  the  cross.  Did  the  Creator 
of  the  world,  of  the  eternal  and  indestructible  stars  re- 
volving in  the  silent  spaces  of  infinity,  the  Source  of  all 
life,  whose  influence  permeates  all  matter  and  spirit,  ex- 
pire on  a  cross,  two  thousand  years  ago,  between  two 
miserable  culprits,  surrounded  by  a  company  of  Roman 


13G  Theology  and  Myiliology. 

soldiery,  a  mob  of  jeering  Jews,  and  a  few  sympathetic 
women  ?  This  is  not  a  harsh  and  strained  presentation 
of  the  question.  If  Christian  theology  be  true,  this  is 
exactly  what  did  occur.  If  Christ  was  not  God,  Chris- 
tian theology,  as  it  is  commonly  received,  is  a  fabrica- 
tion, and,  no  matter  how  excellent  its  moral  teaching,  its 
claims  to  anything  more  than  a  mere  human  institution, 
the  product  of  natural  causes  and  the  subject  of  natural 
conditions,  must  be  forever  abandoned.  It  is  no  expla- 
nation of  the  contradiction  to  assert  that  Jesus  was,  at 
the  same  time,  perfect  man  and  perfect  god.  The  exist- 
ence, the  life  and  death  of  such  a  being  on  earth,  is  be- 
yond the  realm  of  possibilities,  and  wholly  outside  the 
domain  of  reason.  No  amount  of  "  testimony "  can 
make  the  impossible  possible  and  the  incredible  credible. 
"VYe  have  no  testimony,  we  can  have  no  testimony,  that 
Jesus  was  God.  He  did  not  come  down  from  heaven 
bodily.  He  was  apparently  born  into  the  world  like  aiiy 
other  perfectly  human  creature.  He  did  not  tower  far 
away  above  the  men  of  his  own  time,  or  those  that  pre- 
ceded and  succeeded  liim,  in  intellectual  endowments  or 
educational  acquirements.  He  has  given  to  the  world 
no  elaborate  work,  such  as  the  poems  of  Homer,  the 
oratory  of  Demosthenes,  the  historical  writings  of  Thu-  , 
cydides,  or  the  philosophical  sysitems  of  Plato  and  Aris- 
totle. .  His  sermons,  parables  and  dialogues,  unquestion- 
ably excellent  as  they  are,  and  breathing  moral  purity 
and  tender  ^ove  for  liumanity,  are  yet  sueh  as  could  have 
been  delivered  by  a  human  being  whose  soul  was  filled 
with  noble  views  for  the  amelioration  of  his  kind,  and 
wdiose  heart  was  in  sympathy  with  the  progress  of  hu- 
maniv;v.     Ho  never  himself  claimed  to  be  God.     He  did 


Theology  and  Mythology .  137 

claim  to  be  the  son  of  God  ;  thongli  this  is  a  very  expan- 
sive expression,  and  admits  of  great  latitude  of  interpret- 
ation. Christians  call  themselves,  even  nowadays,  the 
children  of  God ;  and  if  they  can  do  so  with  propriety, 
why  should  not  Jesus  have  assumed  and  have  accorded 
to  him  the  distinguishing  title  of  the  "  son  of  God"? 
Granting,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  that  while  on 
earth  he  worked  the  few  miracles  whose  performance  is 
ascribed  to  him,  this  would  not  be  even  presump- 
tive evidence  that  Jesus  was  God.  The  Hebrew  Script- 
ures abound  with  the  recitals  of  the  working  of  miracles, 
including  the  raising  of  the  dead,  by  prophets  of  even 
indifferent  reputation  for  piety.  The  magicians  of  Egypt 
worked  some  very  extraordinary  miracles,  if  we  accept 
the  truth  of  the  Bible  narrative.  Saul  and  a  banished 
witch  brought  the  old  prophet  Samuel  out  of  his  grave. 
Even  Balaam's  ass  exhibited  miraculous  power  of  a  rare 
character.  Among;  the  Jews  the  working  of  what  are 
called  miracles  attracted  little  attention.  If  the  reputed 
godsliip  of  Jesus  were  to  be  based  upon  the  miracles  he 
performed,  how  many  would  be  entitled  to  dispute  his 
claims  ?  It  is  evident  that  Jesus  attached  little  impor- 
tance to  miracle-working,  and  never  thought  of  claiming 
to  be  God  on  account  of  any  wonders  he  performed. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Christian  tlieologians,  in  explaining  the  doctrine  of 
the  atonement,  assert,  with  compLacent  self-assuranee, 
tluit  in  tlie  crucifixion  of  Jesus  the  attributes  of  God's 
mercy  and  justice  were  reconciled  and  harmonized. 
God  being  just,  they  argue,  must  necessarily  have  sent 
every  sinner  to  hell  or  a  place  of  eternal  torture,  presided 
over  by  the  Devil  in  person,  in  consequence  of  the  sin 
the  race  originally  contracted  on  account  of  Adam's  dis- 
obedience, and  for  actual  individual  depravity  and  unbe- 
lief. But  as  God  is  perfectly  just,  so  is  he  infinitely 
compassionate.  He  does  not  wish  the  punishment  of  a 
single  sinner,  and  he  would  doubtless  pardon  the  sin  ot 
.the  whole  human  race,  and  render  man  happy  on  eartli, 
and  continue  that  happiness  in  the  future  world,  were  it 
not  for  that  dreadful  principle  of  justice  that  emanates 
from  him,  embodied  in  the  expression,  "  The  soul  that 
sinneth  shall  surely  die."  God  is  represented,  as  it  were, 
in  a  dilemma.  Justice  must  be  satisfied,  and  yet  mercy, 
too,  claims  consideration.  The  divine  wisdom  at  last 
triumphs.  The  problem  is  solved.  God  determines  that 
God  shall  be  born  into  the  world,  of  a  woman.     The 


Theology  and  Mythology.  139 

being  born  is  not  God  exactly,  but  is  tlie  son   of  God. 
He   has   a   divine   and   a  human  nature.     He  is  born  a 
helpless  babe.     "He  increases  in  stature  and  wisdom 
and  in  favor  with  God  and  man,"  not  as  though  he  was 
already  God  the  Omnipotent — Jlnd  who  as  such  could  not 
increase  in  wisdom  or  in  favor  with  God — ^but  like  any 
ordinary  youth  of  excellent  natural  disposition.     After  a 
life   of  complete   silence   and   obscurity  he  began  to  be 
about   "  thirty  years   of  age,  being  as  was  supposed  the 
son  of  Joseph  " ;  he  commenced  his  public  ministry,  and, 
having  spent  three  short  years  in  the  work  of  gaining  a 
few  followers,  delivering  a  few  discourses,  and  healing  a 
few  sick  folks  and  cripples,  he  is  crucified  by  order  of 
the  Roman  governor  Pontius  Pilate,  on  a  mixed  accusa- 
tion— presented  in  an  illegal  and  informal  manner — of 
sedition  and  blasphemy.     God  in  heaven  foreordains  all 
these  movements.     It  is  the  completion  of  a  plan  mapped 
out  before  ever  the  worlds  were  framed.    God  visits  upon 
the  person  of  Jesus,  the  man,  who  is  also  the  equal  of 
God,  and  God,  the  punishment  for  sin  that  the  wicked 
human  race  ought  to  sufier.     Jesus  the  man  dies,  but 
only  for  a  short  time ;  he  descends  into  hell — though 
how  long  he  remained  in  pandemonium  we  are  not  in- 
formed— and  ascends  into  heaven  to  assume  his  pristine 
glory  and  power.     God's  justice  is  satisfied  and  mercy 
triumphs.     This  is  the  exact  story  of  Jesus  and  the  atone- 
ment as  told  in  the  Scriptures.     Many  "  Lives  of  Christ" 
have  been  written  and  will  be  written ;  but  this  is  the 
substance  of  the  oft-told  story.     Taking  all  these  assump- 
■  tiojis  for  verities,  a  child  in  reasoning  powers  might  ask, 
Where  was  the  divine  justice  in  punishing  the  irmocent 
for  the  guilty  ?     If  a  man  connnitted  a  capital  ofiensc 


140  Theology  and  Mythology. 

MTid  his  life  bectime  by  judicial  process  forfeited  to  the 
State,  would  the  Executive  "reconcile  justice  and  mercy" 
by  accepting  the  substitution  of  an  innocent  man,  who 
had  never  violated  the  law,  for  the  criminal  whose  life 
was  declared  forfeited  ?  Would  there  be  even  mercy  in 
such  a  compromise  ?  Wluit  human  ruler  would  dare  to 
perpetrate  such  an  outrage  ?  Yet  the  wisdom  of  the 
Omniscient  could  devise  no  better  plan  for  the  salvation 
of  the  world  and  for  securing  the  happiness  of  his  crea- 
tures." We  will  doubtless  be  met  with  the  assertion  that 
our  ideas  of  justice  are  not  in  any  respect  similar  to  those 
of  God.  We  are  thankful  that  they  are  not  in  accord 
with  those  ascribed  to  the  Jehovah  of  the  Jewish  Script- 
ures! What  ideas  of  justice  and  mercy  can  we  entertain 
than  such  as  those  that  arise  from  the  experience  of  life  ? 
It  is  useless  to  talk  to  us  at  all  about  God's  justice  or 
any  of  his  attributes,  except  they  conform  to  our  own 
ideas.  This  appeal  to  our  reason  on  some  subjects,  and 
the  denial  of  its  use  on  other  subjects,  is  childish  trifling 
unworthy  of  reasonable  creatures.  To  ask  us  to  accept 
any  statement  or  theory  as  being  in  accordance  with  di- 
vine justice,  and  in  the  same  breath  to  tell  us  that  we 
can  entertain  no  accurate  views  of  any  of  the  attributes 
of  the  Deity,  is  an  insult  to  our  understanding  that  every 
man  who  is  bold  enough  to  think  for  himself  will  quickly 
resent.  The  Protestant  churches  graciously  allow  men 
to  think  for-  themselves  within  prescribed  limits ;  but 
when  the  spirit  of  inquiry  transcends  the  narrow  limits 
of  creeds  and  articles  of  faith,  and  seeks  to  descend  be- 
low the  surface  and  examine  the  basis  on  which  tlie 
superstructure  of  Christianity  rests,  then  the  churches, 
too  late,  put  up  a  signboard  warning -ofF,  under  pains  and 


Theology  and  Mythology.  141 

penalties,  all  trespasser?.  Far  more  consistent  is  the 
Catholic  Church  in  denying  to  her  members  the  right  of 
questioning  or  discussing  in  any  manner  the  cardinal 
doctrines  of  faith.  She  assumes  to  be  the  sole  depository 
of  divine  truth  and  the  interpreter  of  the  divine  will  as 
revealed  in  the  Scriptures.  To  her  rigid  adherence  to 
this  policy  she  owes  the  maintenance  of  her  colossal 
]iower,  and  will  continue  to  maintain  it  until  the  mighty 
sweep  of  thought  and  the  revolutionary  wave  of  univer- 
sal intelligence  shall  carry  away  forever  all  barriers  that 
stand  in  the  way  of  the  thorough  investigation  of  the 
great  problems  to  the  solution  of  which  the  aggregate 
intellectual  power  of  man  is  pledged.  To  the  apostle 
Paul,  chiefly,  the  world  may  attribute  the  errors  and 
evils  consequent  upon  the  preaching  and  acceptance  of 
what  is  called  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement.  This  doc- 
trine, taught  with  the  sanction,  presumably,  of  the  high- 
est Authority  in  the  Universe,  for  two  thousand  years,  has 
contributed,  more  than  all  other  errors  incorporated  into 
religious  systems,  to  debase  the  universal  conscience  and 
confound  all  just  ideas  of  right  and  wrong.  The  doc- 
trine of  vicarious  punishment  endured,  or  the  application 
of  vicai'ious  virtues  conferred,  is  the  incarnation  of  injus- 
tice. It  destroys  the  obligation  of  individual  responsi- 
bility. The  common-sense  of  mankind  has  repudiated  it 
in  all  the  relations  of  the  individual  to  society  or  society 
to  the  individual.  It  teaches  no  noble  lesson  of  self- 
denial;  it  inculcates  no  principle  of  virtue;  for  manly 
fortitude  and  endurance  it  substitutes  abject  dependence 
on  the  supposed  virtue  and  work  of  another,  and  renders 
the  man  who  sincerely  believes  it  the  abject  slave  of 
priestcraft  and  superstition. 


142  Theology  and  Mythology. 

If  a  life  after  tlie  disintegration  of  the  elements  that 
constitute  onr  physical  existence  awaits  mankind,  is  it 
not  more  consonant  with  the  deductions  of  reason  and 
analogy  to  presume  that  the  individual  attains  a  higher 
plane  of  existence  or  sinks  into  a  lower  scale — if  there 
can  be  any  retrogression — in  exact  proportion  as  he  cul- 
tivates or  neglects  the  culture  of  the  moral  and  intellect- 
ual faculties  for  which  this  earth  constitutes  so  diversi- 
fied a  tlieater  of  exhibition,  than  to  suppose  that  he  se- 
cures eternal  liappiness  by  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  "  the 
blood  of  Jesus"  (meanino^  the  death  of  an  individual  cru- 
cified  two  thousand  years  ago),  or  that  he  is  doomed  to 
an  eternity  of  inexpressible  torture,  without  respite  or 
relief,  simply  because  he  cannot  accept  as  a  truth  the 
statement  that  God  died  for  his  sins  ? 


CHAPTER  YI. 

The  acceptance  of  this  doctrine  of  the  atonement  is 
only  less  pernicious  to  individual  responsibility  than  tlio 
ignoble  one,  derived  from  the  same  source,  of  the  total 
depravity  of  mankind.  The  preachers  of  modern  Chris- 
tianity oftentimes  seem  to  take  pleasure  in  drawing  dis- 
gusting pictures  of  our  fallen  state  and  lost  and  ruined 
condition.  They  delight  in  telling  us  that  "  our  right- 
eousness is  as  filthy  rags  "  ;  that  from  "  the  crown  of  the 
head  to  the  sole  of  the  foot  there  is  no  soundness  in  us, 
but  wounds  and  bruises  and  putrefying  sores";  and 
quote  largely  from  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  such  and  sim- 
ilar elegant  and  flattering  descriptions  of  human  nature. 
This  as  d  course  of  instruction  is  a  grave  error,  as  well 
as  the  inculcation  of  a  pernicious  fiction.  One  of  the 
niost  effectual  ways  of  rendering  a  man  utterly  reckless 
is  to  attempt  to  persuade  him  that  he  is  totally  depraved 
and  incapable  of  any  moral  improvement.  When  this 
has  been  unhappily  accomplished,  self-respect,  a  decent 
regard  for  the  opinions  of  others,  and  other  barriers  that 
protect  society  from  the  incursions  of  ignorance  and  un- 
bridled   passions,    arc    forever    swept    away.     Nothing 


144  Theology  and  JSiythologrj. 

licncefortli  remains  for  tlie  individual  but  the  restraints 
imposed  by  the  law,  and  social  ostracism.  That  human 
nature  is  totally  depraved  hardly  needs  denial.  No  one 
believes  it;  even  those  who  preach  it,  in  practice  give  it 
flat  contradiction.  In  every  civilized  state  provision  is 
made  for  the  support  of  tlie  aged,  the  sick,  infirm  and 
insane  who  are  unable  to  provide  for  their  own  wants. 
There  are  free  scliools  from  which  are  disseminated  all 
the  blessings  of  education.  Institutions  of  learning  are 
liberally  endowed  by  private  individuals  all  over  the 
land  ;  and  men  have  bestowed  upon  them  the  accumula- 
tions of  a  lifetime,  not  to  derive  from  them  any  benefit 
themselves,  but  to  aid  in  diminishing  the  sum  of  human 
sufferins:  and  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  race. 

It  is  about  time  that  the  world  had  heard  the  last  of 
this  debasing  doctrine  of  total  depravity  that  has  wrought 
such  infinite  mischief  in  blunting  the  liuman  conscience 
and  inculcating  degrading  ideas  of  tlie  status  and  dignity 
of  man.  Associated  with  the  soulless  doctrines  of  the 
depravity  of  human  nature  and  tlie  atonement  is  what  is 
called  "justification  by  faith."  It  means,  if  we  riglitly 
understand  it,  that  by  believing  in  Jesus,  as  it  is  called, 
we  are  enabled  to  apply  the  benefits  resulting  from  his 
deatli  to  ourselves  individually  ;  that  Jesus  has  suflered 
in  our  stead  all  the  punishment  that  God  would  other- 
wise have  inflicted  upon  every  liuman  being  ;  his  riglit- 
eousness  and  sinlessness  is  imputed  to  us  as  though  it 
were  our  own  ;  but  that  our  believing  this  is  made  a 
condition  precedent  to  our  receiving  the  beflefit  of 
Christ's  work.  In  the  death  of  Jesus  the  requirements 
of  God's  justice  were  completely  satisfied,  and,  in  tlie 
language   of  Scripture,  "  by  his   stripes  wc  are  healed." 


Theology  and  Mythology.  145 

It  is  farther  necessary,  before  vt^e  can  claim  any  benefit 
from  the  death  of  Jesus,  that  we  believ^c,  no  matter  \\ovf 
much  opposed  to  our  reason,  that  Jesus  was,  in  tlie  sense 
in  which  it  is  commonly  received,  the  son  of  God ;  that 
he  arose  on  the  third  day  from  his  death  to  another  life  ; 
and  that  now,  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  he  ever  liveth 
to  make  intercession  for  us.  Now,  what  is  believing  ? 
Paul,  the  great  originator  of  this  doctrine,  defines  ftxith 
to  be  "  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence 
of  things  not  seen."  His  admirers  are  fond  of  quoting 
this  as  a  most  accurate  and  lucid  definition.  But  when 
analyzed  it  is  only  a  meaningless  tliough  euphonious 
contradiction.  There  is  no  substance  of  tilings  hoped  for 
but  actual  fruition.  "  Tlie  evidence  of  thino-s  not  seen" 
is  a  contradiction  on  its  face,  and  might  only  mean  cir- 
cumstantial evidence  at  best.  "  Faith,"  as  applied  to  an 
individual,  ordinarily  means  the  trust  reposed  in  his 
character,  or  in  the  veracity  of  his  statements ;  and  is 
based,  usually,  upon  our  knowledge  of  the  individual,  his 
reputation,  and  also  upon  the  further  consideration  that 
his  statements,  though  for  the  moment  incapable  of  veri- 
fication, correspond  with  what  is  not  improbable,  and  do 
not  contradict  our  own  experience  or  that  of  others.  In 
this  sense  and  meaning  of  the  expression  it  is  evident 
that  we  can  have  no  more  "faith"  in  Jesus  ,or  Paul  than 
in  Socrates  or  Julius  CiBsar.  Of  the  life  of  Csesar  we 
know  absolutely  more  than  that  of  Jesus;  yet  no  one 
talks  of  having  faith  in  CiBsar.  The  employment  of  this 
expression,  applied  to  one  who  has  long  since  passed  off 
the  stage  of  terrestrial  existence,  is  absolutely  devoid  of 
intelligible  comprehension. 

Nowhere,  that  we  arc  aware   of,  has  Jesus  of  Naza- 


L46  Theology  and  Mythology. 

re  til  proclaimed  the  doctrine  of  justification  through 
faith.  He  did  preach  morality,  charity,  the  brotherhood 
of  man  ;  contempt  for  rites  and  ceremonies,  as  constitut- 
ing no  part  of  spiritual  worship.  Though  a  Jew  by 
birth,  his  far-reaching  sympathies  extended  beyond  the 
narrow  confines  of  his  race  amd  country.  He  knew  no 
race  and  no  country.  He  whose  clear  vision  penetrated 
the  shams  and  hypocrisies  of  the  priests  and  the  Phari- 
sees would  have  been  the  last  in  the  world  to  have  taught 
a  doctrine  by  which  the  crimes  and  impurities  of  life 
may  be  atoned  for  by  the  expression  of  the  formula  of 
belief.  How  docs  "  faith  in  Christ "  affect  any  fact  in 
tlie  life  of  Jesus  ?  If  Jesus  were  even  the  son  of  God  in 
the  supernatural  sense  in  which  it  is  claimed  he  was, 
faith  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  it.  He  either  was 
or  was  not,  and  what  we  may  believe  or  not  believe  on 
the  subject  affects  nothing.  If  Jesus  died  to  save  man- 
kind, faith  has  nothing  to  do  with  his  death.  It  is  a  cir- 
cumstance unaffected  by  faith  as  little  as  the  appearance 
of  the  aurora  borealis  is.  If  Jesus,  having  actually  died, 
actually  rose  again  from  the  dead — which  is  contrary  to 
all  human  experience,  and  an  occurrence  unlike  any  which 
ever  happened  in  the  history  of  the  world,  at  all  authen- 
ticated— faith  docs  not  render  the  impossible  possible. 
No  views  that  we  may  entertain,  and  no  feelings  of  ours, 
can  modify  in  the  slightest  the  character  of  an  event 
supposed  to  have  occurred  two  tliousand  years  ago.  The 
truth  seems  to  be  that  ''  faith  in  Christ"  is  but  another 
name  for  a  condition  of  mental  exaltation  that  people 
work  themselves,  or  permit  themselves  to  be  Vv'orked, 
into.  It  is  founded  on  no  reasoning  process,  and  is 
wholly  outside  the  realm  of  logical  deduction.     When 


Theology  and  Mythology.  lit 

believers  have  reached  this  happy  condition  in  which  tlio 
voice  of  reason  is  stifled,'  they  ascribe  the  blessed  result 
to  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Faith  itself  is  not  an 
independent  act  of  the  will.  It  is  "the  gift  of  God," 
tiiat  may  fall  upon  the  most  obdurate  unbeliever  as  well 
as  upon  the  most  willing  recipient  of  Divine  favor.  Now, 
it  must  be  admitted  that  since  faith  is  by  the  suggestion 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  individual  who  believes  can  claim 
no  credit  for  an  act  not  his,  and  ought  to  be  entitled  to 
no  benefit  for  what  is  accomplished  independent  of  even 
his  will.  It  is  true  that  we  are  told  that  we  may  resist 
the  Spirit,  and  in  the  Scriptures  are  even  commanded  not 
to  do  60 ;  but  a  moment's  reflection  will  convince  any 
man  that  resistance  to  the  Almighty  is  a  sheer  impossi- 
bility, and  that  even  to  suggest  anything  of  the  kind 
seems  very  like  what  is  considered  irreverence  by  many. 
It  equally  follows  that,  since  faith  is  not  an  act  of  the 
individual  which  he  can  exercise  at  will,  and  its  posses- 
sion is  wholly  beyond  his  control,  it  would  not  be  in  har- 
mony with  God's  attribute  of  justice  to  doom  a  human 
being  to  eternal  torture  and  damnation  because  he  hap- 
pened to  miss  the  gift  of  faith.  Paul  says,  "  Whom  he 
will  have  mercy  upon, he  will  have  mercy;  and  whom  he 
will,  he  hafdencth."  This  certainly  is  a  harsh  and  in- 
human representation  of  the  character  of  the  Christians' 
God ;  but  if  it  be  the  truth,  we  must  only  bear  it  .as  best 
we  can. 

We  are  frequently  invited  to  "come  to  Jesus,"  though 
in  what  manner  we  are  to  reach  Jesus  is  not  set  forth 
with  sufficient  perspicuity.  "We  are  told  to  "  look  to 
Jesus,"  to  lay  "hold  on  Jesus,"  and  many  other  expres- 
sions arc  being  constantly  used  tl'.at  are  wholly  destitute 


lis  Theology  and  Mythology. 

of  practical  application.  Instead  of  furnisliing  those 
seeking  reasonable  arguments  with  some  rational  defense 
of  Christianity,  and  throwing  what  historical  light  there 
remains  npon  the  most  momentous  question  that  ever  in 
the  life  of  God  or  man  riveted  the  attention  of  intelligent 
beings,  and  in  comparison  with  which  all  others  pale 
into  utter  insignificance,  they  are  treated  to  common- 
place repetitions  and  wearisome  platitudes,  often  accom- 
panied with  bitter  denunciations ;  so  that  they  are  forced 
to  turn  away  from  all  inquiries  into  the  origin  of  relig- 
ious ideas  and  seek  diversion  in  the  active  pursuits  and 
pleasures  of  life,  or,  if  animated  by  a  restlessness  that 
will  not  be  appeased,  they  sink  at  last  into  a  despondency 
deeper  than 

"  The  Sirbonian  bog 
Between  Damiata  and  Mount  Cassius  old, 
Where  armies  whole  have  sunk." 


CHAPTER  VIL 

Believing  the  story  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesas,  in  a 
physical  sense,  to  be  purely  mythical ;  holding  that  the 
assumed  trutli  of  the  statement  would  involve  a  contra- 
diction of  tlie  universally  accepted  laws  of  nature — it  is 
useless  to  attempt  any  reconciliation  of  the  Gospel  narra- 
tives with  actual  fact  upon  any  reasonable  hypothesis.  It 
may,  however,  be  remarked  that  the  Gospel  accounts  of 
tlie  reputed  resurrection  of  Jesus  not  only  fail  to  harmo- 
nize, but  differ  very  essentially. 

It  is  doubtless  a  humiliating  task,  in  this  boasted  age 
of  enlightenment,  to  be  compelled  to  devote  any  atten- 
tion to  the  consideration  of  a  subject  that  presents  no 
reasonable  phase  of  discussion ;  yet  as  many  persons  of 
intelligence  accepf  in  good  faith  the  story  of  the  resur- 
rection, relying  on  the  alleged  truth  of  the  Gospel  narra- 
tives, it  may  be  as  well  to  meet  them  upon  their  own 
ground,  descend  to  their  line  of  argument,  and  oppose 
them  with  weapons  drawn  from  their  own  armory.  Mat- 
thew tells  us  that  after  the  crucilixion,  Joseph  of  Arima- 
thea  begged  the  body  of  Jesus  from  Pilate;  that  he 
wrapped  it  in  a  clean  linen  cloth,  laid  it  in  a  new  tomb 


[ 


150  Theology  and  2iythology. 

licwn  out  of  the  rock  and  rolled  a  great  stone  to  the  door 
of  the  sepnlcher ;  that  "Mary  Magdalene  and  the  other 
Mary  "  were  sitting  over  against  the  sepulcher  ;  that  on 
t]ie  next  day,  the  Pharisees,  reminding  Pilate  of  Jesus' 
prediction  of  liis  resurrectioa,  and  fearing  lest  his  disci- 
ples should  steal  him  away  by  night,  obtained  permission 
to  seal  up  the  sepulcher  and  set  a  watch ;  that  in  the 
end  of  the  Sabbath,  as  it  began  to  dawn,  toward  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  Mary  Magdalene  and  "  the  other  Mary" 
came  to  see  the  sepulcher  ;  that  there  was  a  great  earth- 
quake, for  the  angel  of  the  Lord  descended  from  heaven 
and  rolled  back  the  stone  from  the  door  and  sat  upon  it; 
his  countenance  was  like  liirhtnin'2;  and  his  raiment  white 
as  snow;  that  for  fear  of  this  angelic  apparition  the 
keepers  did  shake  and  become  as  dead  men.  We  are 
next  abruptly  informed,  without  the  slightest  reference 
to  any  previous  conversation  (Matt,  xxviii,  5),  "  And  the 
angel  answered  and  said  unto  the  women,  Fear  not,  for 
I  know  that  ve  seek  Jesus  which  was  crucified.  'lie  is 
not  here,  for  he  is  risen,  as  lie  said."'  Here  the  angel 
seems  to  be  well  acquainted  with  the  sayings  of  Jesus ; 
but  it  looks  to  us  more  like  the  language  of  Matthev/ 
than  of  the  angel.  "  Come  and  see  where  the  Lord  lay, 
and  go  quickly  and  tell  his  disciples  tbat  he  is  risen  from 
tlie  dead  ;  and  behold,  he  goeth  before  you  into  Galilee  ; 
there  shall  ye  sec  him :  lo  !  I  have  told  you."  The  re- 
maining portion  of  Matthew's  narrative  informs  us  that 
the  women  immediately  met  Jesus,  who  revealed  himself 
to  thcra  and  to  his  disciples ;  that  tlie  soldiers  were 
bribed  by  the  chief  priests  to  say  that  the  body  of  Jesus 
was  stolen  by  his  disciples,  and  tliat  such  a  report  was 
current  "  until  this  day,"  meaning,  of  course,  a  time  long 


Theology  and  Mythology.  151 

subsequent  to  the  deatlt  of  Jesns,  when  tliis  gospel  was 
written.  Witli  reo-ard  to  the  statement  of  tlie  chief 
priest  tluit  the  soldiers  were  bribed  to  put  out  a  report 
that  the  body  of  Jesus  was  stolen,  we  reply  that  such  a 
measure  would  argue  supreme  folly  on  the  part  of  tlic 
chief  priest.  If  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  was  a  matter 
of  common  notoriety,  and  ho  was  "  seen  of  many  "  after 
his  resurrection,  the  stealing  of  his  body  would  offer  no 
satisfactory  solution  of  his  living  appearance. 

To  sum  up,  Matthew's  account  of  the  resurrection  is 
•based  upon  the  alleged  appearance  of  an  angel  to  two 
women,  whose  minds  must  have  been  disordered  by  mid- 
iiio-ht  vijrils  at  the  sfrave  of  Jesus  and  intense  excitement 
consequent  upon  his  crucifixion,  tlie  conversation  with 
the  angel,  his  inviting  them  to  see  where  the  Lord  lay, 
and  the  appearance  of  Jesus  himself  to  the  women  and 
the  disciples.  Matthew  further  adds  that  Jesus  showed 
himself  to  his  eleven  disciples  on  a  mountain  ;  that  they 
worshiped  him,  but  some  doubted.  If  there  ever  was  a 
real  appearance  of  the  living  Jesus  to  men  so  intimately 
acquainted  with  him  as  his  own  chosen  eleven  disciples, 
it  does  seem  strange  that  either  his  identity  or  the  real- 
ity of  his  appearance  should  have  ever  become  a  question 
of  doubt  with  any  of  them. 

Mark  differs  slightly  from  Matthew  in  his  account  of 
the  resurrection.  I3oth  tiie  women  mentioned  by  Mat- 
thew come  to  the  sepulcher  early  in  the  morning.  They 
find  the  stone  rolled  away.  They  boldly  enter  the  sep- 
ulcher, and  find,  not  an  angel,  but  a  young  man,  sitting 
on  the  right  side,  clothed  in  a  long  white  garment,  and 
tlicy  are  frightened.  This  "  young  ma,n  "  conveys  infor- 
mation to  the  women  sv.nilar  to  that  Matthew  represents 


152  Theologij  and  Mythology. 

the  anscel  utterins;.  Mark  cnlarcjes  further  than  Matthew 
upon  the  appearance  of  Jesus  to  his  disciples,  and  repre- 
sents Jesus  as  utterins;  that  illiberal  sentiment  which  has 
been  the  baneful  source  of  the  most  infamous  system  of 
persecution  that  ever  disgraced  any  religion  :  "  He  that 
believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved;  but  lie  that 
believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  The  promulgation  of 
this  illiberal  doctrine  by  fire  and  sword,  by  the  dungeon, 
the  torture  and  the  rack,  has  held  the  world  in  intellect- 
ual slavery  f6r  seventeen  hundred  years.  But  it  has 
happily  now  lost  all  pernicious  vitality.  The  place  it 
still  holds  in  Christian  theology  serves  only  to  show  the 
wonderful  emancipation  from  spiritual  slavery  that  has 
been  made  within  a  single  century. 

Luke,  writing  later  on  the  same  subject,  having  never 
seen  Jesus,  basing  his  statements  upon  the  traditions  he 
had  received,  which  in  the  progress  of  time  were  con- 
stantly receiving  accretions  marvelous  and  mythical  in 
their  character,  differs  very  materially  from  MatthcAv 
and  Mark,  and  adds  to  the  scantiness  of  tlicir  meager 
narratives.  In  addition  to  the  two  original  Marys,  he 
introduces  other  women,  whoso  number  he  does  not  des- 
ignate, assembling  at  the  sepulcher.  They  enter  in  and 
find  it  empty.  Two  men  in  shining  apparel  address 
lliem  in  languagt3  similar  to  that  recorded  by  Matthew 
and  Mark,  and  quote  a  prediction  of  Jesus  in  support  of 
their  statement  of  the  resurrection.  Peter,  now  appear- 
ing for  the  first  time  in  tlie  drama  of  the  "resurrection, 
enters  the  sepulcher,  finds  the  grave  clothes,  but  nothing 
more.  Jesus  afterward  appears  to  many  of  his  disciples 
and  establishes  the  fact  that  ho  is  a  living  human  being, 
and  net  a  mere  apparition,  by  eating  fish  and  a  hone}-- 


Theology  and  Mythology.  153 

comb.  Ilis  conclusion  of  the  story  of  the  resurrection 
informs  us  that  while  Jesus  blessed  his  disciples,  he  was 
parted  from  them  and  carried  up  to  heaven. 

John's  account  of  the  resurrection  difters  materially 
from  that  given  by  Mark.  (Mark  xvi,  1-5.)  Mark 
says  :  "  And  when  the  Sabbath  was  past,  Mary  3Iagda- 
lene,  and  Mary  the  mother  of  James  and  Salome,  had 
bought  sweet  spices,  that  they  might  come  and  anoint 
him.  And  very  early  in  the  morning  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  they  came  unto  the  sepulcher,  at  the  rising  of 
the  sun.  And  they  said  among  themselves,  Who  shall 
roll  us  away  the  stone  from  the  door  of  the  sepulcher  ? 
And  when  they  looked,  they  saw  that  the  stone  was 
rolled  away:  for  it  was  very  great ;  and  entering  into 
the  sepulcher,  they  saw  a  young  man  sitting  on  the  right 
side,  clothed  in  a  long  white  garment ;  and  they  were 
affrighted."  The  young  man  tells  the  women  to  go  and 
tell  Peter  and  the  rest  of  the  resurrection.  John  (xx)  says : 
"  The  first  day  of  the  week  cometh  Mary  Magdalene 
early,  when  it  was  yet  dark,  unto  the  sepulcher,  and 
seeth  the  stone  taken  away  from  the  sepulcher.  Then 
slie  runneth,  and  cometh  to  Simon  Peter  and  to  the 
other  disciple,  whom  Jesus  loved,  and  saith  unto  them. 
They  have  taken  away  the  Lord  out  of  the  sepulcher, 
and  we  know  not  where  they  have  laid  him.  Peter 
therefore  w^ent  forth,  and  that  other  disciple,  and  came 
to  the  sepulcher.  So  they  ran  both  together ;  and  the 
other  disciple  did  outrun  Peter,  and  came  first  to  the 
sepulcher ;  and  he,  stooping  down,  and  looking  in,  saw 
the  linen  clothes  lying;  yet  went  he  not  in.  Then  com- 
eth Simon  Peter  following  him,  and  went  into  the  sepul- 
cher, and  sccth  the  linen  clothes  lie,  and  the  napkin  that 


154-  Theology  and  Ifythology. 

was  about  his  head,  not  lying  with  the  linen  clothes,  but 
wrapped  together  in  a  place  by  itself.  Theu  went  in 
also  that  other  disciple  which  came  first  to  the  sepulcher, 
and  he  saio  and  believed;  for  as  yet  they  knew  not  the 
scriiiture^  that  he  tnust  rise  (igain  j-ronn  the  dead.  Then 
tlie  disciples  went  away  again  unto  their  own  home. 
But  Mary  stood  without  at  the  sepulcher,  A^'ceping  ;  and 
as  she  wept,  she  stooped  down  and  looked  into  the  sep- 
ulcher, and  seeth  two  angels  in  white  sitting,  the  one  at 
the  head  and  the  other  at  the  foot,  where  tlie  body  of 
Jesus  had  lain  ;  and  they  say  unto  her,  Womau,  Avhy 
weepest  thou  ?  She  saith  unto  them,  Because  they  have 
taken  away  my  Lord,  and  I  know  not  where  they  have, 
laid  him.  And  when  slie  had  thus  said,  slie  turned  her- 
self back,  and  sav/  Jesus  standing,  and  knew  not  that  it 
was  Jesus.  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Woman,  why  weepest 
thou  ?  whom  seekest  thou  ?  She,  supposing  him  to  be 
the  gardener,  saith  unto  him,  Sir,  if  tliou  have  borne  liim 
hence,  tell  me  where  thou  hast  laid  him,  and  I  will  take 
him  a'W'Tiy.  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Mary.  Slie  turned 
herself  and  saith  unto  him,  Rabboni ;  which  is  to  say. 
Master.  Jesus  saitli  unto  her,  Touch  me  not ;  for  I  am 
not  yet  ascended  to  my  Father  :  but  go  to  my  brethren, 
and  say  unto  them,  I  ascend  unto  my  Father,  and  your 
Father  ;  and  to  my  God,  and  your  God."  The  remainder 
of  John's  narrative  introduces  three  distinct  apparitions 
of  Jesus  to  his  disciples,  including  the  episode  of  Thomas 
pressing  his  fingers  into  the  marks  of  the  nails,  the  eating 
of  fish  by  Jesus,  and  tlje  miraculous  draught  of  fishes. 
John  further  adds  that  none  of  the  disciples  durst  ask 
Jesus  who  he  was,  knowing  tliat  it  was  the  Lord,  and 
makes  no  mention  of  his  ascent  to  lieaven. 


Theology  and  Mythology.  155 

The  variance  existing  between  John's  account  of  the 
resurrection  nnd  tliat  of  Mark — and  in  fact  of  the  two 
other  writers — will  be  apparent  to  the  most  careless 
reader  of  the  Gosppls. 

The  other  accounts  substantially  agree  in  describing 
tlie  apparition  of  the  angel  or  young  man,  whichever  it 
was,  to  the  women,  his  announcing  to  them  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus,  and  his  desiring  them  to  tell  tlie  news  to 
the  disciples,  Peter  and  John  visiting  again  the  sepulcher 
and  seeing  tM-o  angelsTx  Mark  says  that  the  women,  ouj 
their  way  to  carry  the  intelligence,  met  Jesus,  who  ad- 
dressed them,  saying,  "  All  hail!"  and  that  tliey  came 
and  held  him  by  the  feet  and  worshiped  him.  John 
makes  Jesus  disclose  himself  to  Mary  alone,  after  shqf 
had  mistaken  him  for  the  gardener — which  was  a  verf 
extraordinary  mistake  on  her  part— and  then  immedij- 
ately  warned  her  7iot  to  touch  him,,  for  he  was  not  je\ 
ascended  to  his  Father.  Yet  Jesus,  who  would  not  allow  \ 
himself  to  be  desecrated  by  the  contact  of  this  poor  woman,/ 
invites  and  permits  doubting  Thomas  to  thrust  his  hand 
into  his  wounds  !  "We  care  not  to  magnify  these  die 
crepancies  and  contradictions ;  but  would  not  such  a 
fatal  variance  as  this,  not  to  mention  many  others  of  Irko' 
character,  send  the  stoiy  of  the  alleged  resurrection  oi 
any  one  else  out  of  a  court  of  inquiry  where  any  atten- 
tion was  paid  to  the  law  of  "evidence  ?  Such  confusion/ 
and  such  contradictions  become  all  the  more  inexplicableX 
when  we  are  asked  to  believe  that  these  several  accounts  ' 
were  dictated  and  inspired  by  the  Divine  Spirit  of  uner/ 
ring  truth.  From  many  considerations  it  seems  apparent 
that  John,  in  his  anxiety  j:o  jnit  on  record  "proofs"  of 
the  resurrection,  has   damaged  tlie  case  he   thought  to 


156  Theology  and  Mythology. 

establish^  or  somo  interpolator  may  have  done  so  for  him 
after  his  Gospel  was  written.  We  are  aware  that  it  has 
often  been  urged,  and  with  apparent  reasonableness,  that 
the  seeming  contradictions  of  the  Gospels  aftbrd  the  best 
proof  of  their  genuineness,  and  demonstrate  the  absence 
of  collusion.  We  wonld  readily  admit  the  fact  and  all 
that  might  be  urged  as  consequent  upon  it,  though  we 
might  easily  show  that  in  several  instances,  familiar  to 
all  close  readers  of  the  Gospels,  the  accounts  of  one  writer 
are  but  actual  transcripts,  almost  the  literal  and  exact 
language  cf  the  others,  especially  in  the  first  three  Gos- 
pels ;  yet  they  who  contend  for  the  harmony  of  the  Gos- 
pels should  admit  that  the  accounts  were  written  long 
after  the  alleged  transactions,  and  were  exposed,  and  not 
only  exposed,  but  were  subjected,  to  numerous  additions, 
mutilations,  corrections  and  interpolations.  On  no  hy- 
pothesis of  Divine  inspiration  are  these  variances  suscep- 
tible of  explanation  or  reconciliation.  If  the  doctrine  of 
inspiration  be  abandoned,  then  the  Gospel  narratives  will 
be  received  subject  to  the  same  defenses  and  criticisms 
as  any  other  writings  of  tlie  same  antiquity,  scope  and 
character.  Denuded  of  the  cloak  of  inspiration,  the  nar- 
rations of  the  miraculous  appearances  of  the  !New  Testa- 
ment will  stand  side  by  side  with  the  accounts  of  appari- 
tions and  miraculous  appearances  that  occupy  the  early 
chapters  of  Eoman  and  Grecian  histories 


CHAPTER  YIII. 

Many  theories  have  been  advanced  and  many  specu- 
lations indulired  in  to  account  for  the  "  resurrection  "  of 
Jesus  from  death.  We  admit  that  we  have  no  theory 
upon  whicli  it  may  be  satisfactorily  accounted  for.  Nor 
do  we  believe  that  it  devolves  upon  those  who  fail  to 
reconcile  such  an  event  with  the  ordinary  physical  laws 
and  the  course  of  human  experience  to  attempt  to  ac- 
count for  the  credence  given  to  the  story  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus.  Yet  if  we  enter  the  field  of  speculation, 
it  may  be  possible  that  Jesus  did  really  appear  to  his 
disciples  after  he  was  crucified  and  laid  away  in  the  sep- 
ulcher  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea. 

From  even  the  Gospel  accounts — and  we  have  no 
contemporaneous  history  to  rely  upon — it  may  be,  it  is 
possible,  that  Jesus  never  actually  died  upon  the  cross. 
It  will  be  remembered — accepting  the  scriptural  accounts 
— that  the  Jews  besonght  Pilate,  the  Roman  governoi-, 
that  the  bodies  of  the  crucified  be  not  suffered  to  remain 
on  the  crosses,  exposed  to  public  gaze,  on  Friday,  it 
being  the  "  preparation  day  "  for  the  Sabbath,  and  that 
the  leo-s  of  the  crucified  might  be  broken.     Pilate  grant- 


158  Theology  and,  Mijthology. 

ed  this  request.  We  are  informed  that  "the  soldiers 
brake  the  les-s  of  the  first  and  the  other  that  was  cruci- 
fied  with  him"  (Jesus);  "but  when  thej  came  to  Jesus 
and  saw  that  he  was  dead  ah-eady  they  brake  not  liis 
legs  ;  but  one  of  the  soldiers  with  his  spear  pierced  liis 
side,  and  forthwith  came  there  out  blood  and  water." 
From  this  it  may  be  inferred  that  when  the  Jews,  armed 
with  the  authority  of  Pilate,  came  to  the  fatal  crosses, 
the  two  malefactors  crucified  with  Jesus  were  still  living, 
and  that  to  insure  their  death  tlieir  legs  were  broken, 
and  that  Jesus  escaped  this  torture  by  presenting  the 
appearance  of  being  dead  already.  It  may  have  been  — 
for  we  are  still  dealing  with  the  possibilities — tliat  Jesus 
had  fainted  on  his  cross  from  suffering,  exposure  to  the 
heat  and  loss  of  blood  ;  that  he  was  in  a  lipothymous 
condition  in  which  the  vital  powers  were  dormant,  but 
not  destroyed ;  that  he  subsequently  recovered  his  vital- 
ity and  consciousness  in  the  silent  liours  of  midnight,  as 
he  lay  bound  in  linen  cloths,  with  spiced  preparations  of 
myrrh  and  aloes,  "  in  the  windowless  palace  of  rest " 
hewn  from  the  solid  rock.  He  then  emerged — which  he 
easily  could  have  done,  if  our  hypothesis  is  tenable  at  all 
— ^from  his  temporary  grave,  either  alone  or  aided  by  the 
friendly  women  who  followed  him  to  the  tomb  when  all 
had  deserted  tlie  fallen  teacher  of  Nazareth.  lie  dis- 
closed liimself  next,  for  a  brief  time,  to  liis  disciples, 
though  he  shrank  from  close  contact  with  them ;  yet  wo 
are  informed  that  he  very  logically  demonstrated  his 
corporeal  reality  by  the  remark,  "  A  spirit  hath  not  flesh 
and  bones  as  ye  see  me  have."  Having  once  under- 
gone the  semblance  of  a  disgraceful  mode  of  death,  hav- 
ing been  crucilied  in  company  with  the  lowest  criminals, 


Theology  and  Mythology.  150 

his  mission  was  nccomplislied,  and  his  further  appearance 
in  public  would  have  only  brought  upon  him  derision 
and  contempt.  Disgusted  with  the  treacliery  of  his 
friends,  a  disgust  that  every  public  man,  sooner  or  later, 
experiences,  sick  at  heart  of  the  bitter  lesson  experience 
had  taught  of  the  fate  that  awaits  all  reformers  who  rush 
against  the  adamantine  walls  by  which  ignorance,  big- 
otry, priestcraft  and  superstition  are  protected,  he  bade  a 
sorrowful  adieu  to  his  followers,  and  found  in  the  interior 
of  Arabia,  Egypt  or  Mesopotamia  a  life  of  placid  obscur- 
ity and  a  nameless  grave. 

Or  it  may  be,  as  the  gospel  narrative  mentions  the 
report  current  among  the  Jews,  that  his  disciples  carried 
away  his  body  by  night;  this  being  done — if  done  it  was — 
with  the  double  object  of  having  the  remains  of  their 
beloved  leader  in  their  own  possession,  and,  by  secretly 
disposing  of  it,  to  render  impossible  the  successful  denial, 
by  actual  exhibition  of  his  remains,  of  the  statement  tliat 
he  rose  from  the  dead. 

Be  this,  however,  as  it  may — and  it  is  all  conjecture 
of  the  most  gossamer  sort — the  grand  fact  remains,  and 
will  remain,  that,  though  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  son  of 
the  carpenter,  the  dreamer,  enthusiast,  philanthropist 
and  thauraaturgist,  actually  died  on  the  cross  and  surren- 
dered to  dissolution  the  best  and  purest  lieart  that  ever 
beat  in  the  tabernacle  of  clay,  yet  has  the  Christ  con- 
quered death  and  hell,  and  inherited  the  largest  and 
grandest  immortality  that  ever  glorified  man.  What 
matters  it  to  us  what  sandliill  of  Judea  or  Arabia  covered 
his  bones,  or  on  what  wind  was  wal'ted  the  odor  of  the 
spices  whicli  loving  solicitude  sprinkled  over  his  poor 
clay,  since  the  influence  of  his  inner  and  indestructible 


160  Theology  and  Mythology. 

life  lias  permeated  Immanity  and  given  color  to  the 
thought  and  civilization  of  the  human  race,  not  only  for 
eighteen  hundred  years,  but  for  all  the  time  man  shall 
occupy  a  place  on  the  surface  of  this  planet?  This  is 
the  true  and  stupendous  miracle,  far  surpassing  in  its 
immeasurable  magnificence  all  question  and  conjecture 
about  the  crucifixion  or  rcanimation  of  the  bodv  of  Jesus,  ■ 
or  his  apparition,  real  or  fancied,  to  a  few  simple  hearted, 
ignorant  and  credulous  Jew^ish  peasants,  women  and 
fishermen. 

The  favor  with  which,  in  many  instances,  the  teach- 
ing of  Jesus  was  received,  and  his  increasing  popularitj", 
led  him  into  the  abandonment,  for  a  short  time,  of  his 
true  mission  of  a  teacher,  and  to  the  adoption  of  the  role 
of  a  political  revolutionist.  His  public  entry  into  Jeru- 
salem, that  partook  of  the  character  of  a  political  ova- 
tion, aiforded  his  enemies  a  long-coveted  opportunity  of 
chai-ging  him  with  a  political  oilense  of  which  the  Roman 
governor  would  bo  obliged  to  take  ofiicial  cognizance. 
Jesus,  doubtless  too  late,  saw  the  fatal  mistake  that  the 
ignorant  and  intemperate  zeal  of  his  disciples  led  him 
into.  He  then  intuitively  perceived  that  a  painful  and 
ignominious  form  of  death  would  bring  his  life  and  work 
to  a  premature  termination.  He  did  not  meet  the  inev- 
itable with  that  superb  disdain,  indifference  or  even  grim 
triumph  with  which  strong  natures  have  been  animated 
in  the  face  of  death  inflicted  in  even  its  most  terrible 
and  appalling  aspect.  His  nature,  gentle,  nervous  and 
sensitive  to  physical  and  mental  jjain,  seems  to  have 
shrunk  from  a  mode  of  deatli  painful  in  reality  and  in 
conteinplation.  We  catch  a  glimpse  of  his  inner  man  in 
the  description  of  the  scene  in  Gcthsemano  given  us  by 


Theology  and  Mythology  IGl 

Mark  (xiv,  32) :  '•  And  they  cainc  to  a  place  which  was 
named  Gethsemane  ;  and  ho  saith  to  his  disciples,  Sit 
ye  here,  while  I  shall  pray;  and  he  taketh  witli  him 
Peter  and  James  and  John,  and  bei^an  to  be  sore  amazed, 
and  to  be  very  heavy  ;  and  saith  unto  them,  My  soul  is 
exceeding  sorrowful  unto  deatli :  tarry  ye  here  and 
watch.  And  he  went  forward  a  little,  and  fell  on  the 
ground,  and  prayed  that,  if  it  were  possible,  the  hour 
might  pass  from  him  ;  and  he  said,  Abba,  Father,  all 
things  are  possible  unto  thee  :  take  away  this  cup  from 
me  ;  nevertheless,  not  what  I  will,  but  w'hat  thou  wilt." 
This  passage  affords  an  insight  of  the  feelings  and  condi- 
tions of  the  man  Jesus  in  that  hour  of  supreme  trial  that 
develops  and  exposes  the  true  nature  of  the  individual. 
This  phase  of  the  character  of  Jesus  is  irreconcilable 
with  the  views  entertained  of  his  godship ;  it  even 
demonstrates  that  he  lacked  that  dauntless  resolution  and 
self-sustaining  courage  that  animated  others  under  simi- 
lar circumstances.  Or  is  it  possible  that  he  then  foresaw 
the  grand  spiritual  conquest  that  would  result  from  his 
death,  and,  dazzled  by  the  magnificence  of  his  future  tri- 
umph, was  indifferent  to  everything  else  %  Luke  (xxi) 
ascribes  to  Jesus  the  prediction  of  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  and  the  bondage  of  the  Jews,  the  perturbation 
of  the  heavenly  bodies,  signs  iji  the  sun  and  moon  and 
stars,  and  that  after  these  things  had  happened,  thou 
tliey  should  s6e  the  Son  of  Man  coming  in  the  cloud  5 
witli  power  and  great  glory,  and  makes  him  to  add, 
"  Yerily  I  say  unto  you,  this  generation  shall  not  pass 
away  until  all  these  things  are  fulfilled."  A  dying  man 
may  with  ]ierfect  safety  make  as  many  predictions  as  he 
pleases.     If  they  arc  verified  ho  is  esteemed  a  pro[)het ; 


1G2  Tlieolofjy  and  2fythology. 

if  they  fail  of  accomplishment  little  importance  is  uttuclied 
to  the  circumstance.  Jesns,  or  any  one  else,  might  pre- 
dict Avars,  famines  and  earthquakes.  They  are,  and  have 
been  in  all  ages,  ordinary  occurrences ;  but  wlicn  lie 
ventured  to  predict  violent  convulsions  in  the  great 
lieavenly  bodies  and  th-e  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  or 
any  one  else  in  the  clouds  with  power  and  great  glory, 
and  gave  the  assurance  that  the  generation  of  men  he 
addressed  would  not  pass  away  until  all  that  he  predicted 
was  accomplished,  he  staked  his  reputation  as  a  prophet 
upon  a  prediction  that  failed  of  accomplishment.  That 
generation  passed  away  and  eighteen  hundred  years  have 
elapsed  since  this  prophecy  w^as  uttered,  if  uttered  by 
Jesus  it  ever  was,  and  tlie  fulfillment  of  the  prediction 
seems  as  fiir  oif  now  as  then.  The  defenders  of  the  as- 
sumptions of  inspiration  in  dealing  with  this  passage  of 
Scripture  ra-e  driven  to  explain  tliat  "this  generation" 
did  not  mean  the  men  Jesus  is  supposed  to  have  ad- 
dressed, but  a  future  generation  wlio  might  people  the 
earth  when  this  prophecy  should  be  fullilled  !  It  is  diffi- 
cult, in  view  of  this  explanation,  to  determine  whether 
the  ingenuity  of  the  apologists  of  inspiration  is  more 
astounding  than  the  flexibility  of  a  language  by  which 
"  this  generation  "  meant  future  ages. 

That  the  impression  of  the  almost  immediate  advent 
of  Jesus  (after  his  death)  to  the  earth,  coming  in  tlic 
clouds,  was  entertained,  is  evident  from  a  well-known 
.passage  in  "the  writings  of  Paul.  lie,  too,  fell  into  this 
mistake,  which  he  afterward  attempted  to  correct. 
Writing  to  the  Thessalonians  (First  Epistle,  iv,  15),  he 
says :  "  For  this  v/e  say  unto  you  by  the  word  of  the 
Lord    [that   is,  by  inspiration],  that  vjc  Avhich  r.re  v)A''IQ 


Theology  and  Mythology.  1G3 

and  remain  unto  tlie  coming  of  tlic  Lord  sl)all  not  pre- 
vent them  which  are  asleep ;  for  the  Lord  himself  shall 
descend  from  heaven  with  a  sliont,  with  the  voice  of  the 
archangel,  and  with  the  trump  of  God  :  and  the  dead  in 
Christ  shall  rise  first :  then  vje  which  are  alive  and  re- 
main shall  be  caught  up  together  with  them  in  the 
clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air ;  and  so  shall  v.'o  ever 
be  with  the  Lord."  Paul,  perceiving'  tliat  he  had  ven- 
tured too  far,  and  that  his  followers  were  "shaken  in 
mind  "  bj  the  apprehension  or  expectation  of  the  second 
coming  of  Jesus,  writes  to  them  that  this  cannot  happen 
"  until  the  man  of  sin,  the  son  of  perdition,"  be  revealed, 
which  gave  humanity  a  new  lease  of  life  and  aflbrded 
inexhaustible  material  for  speculation  to  Ghristian  theo- 
logians in  subsequent  ages.  For  nearly  two  thousand 
years  the  theological  telescope  has  been  sweeping  the 
religious  firmament  for  some  appearance  of  the  terrible 
prognostics  that  are  to  herald  the  approacli  in  the  clouds 
of  the  Son  of  Man.  But  as  yet  wo  have  been  given 
nathing  but  false  alarms.  Modern  interpreters  of  the 
prophecies  have  been  led  to  believe  that  the  naan  of  sin 
has  already  come,  tliough  they  are  not  quite  agreed  as 
to  his  identity.  Many  liave  recognized  his  diabolic 
power  in  Mahomet,  some  in  the  Pope  of  Rome,  others 
in  Hapoleon  I,  a  fev/  in  Napoleon  III  and  the  late  Czar 
Nicliolas  of  Russia,  The  Church  of  Rome,  if  It  were 
v/eak  enougli  to  indulge  in  speculations  on  the  subject, 
v/ould  probably  divide  the  honors  between  Luther  and 
Bismarck. 

The  absence  of  all  reference  in  the  works  of  Josep'lius 
to  the  life  and  extraordinary  career  of  Jesus  has  been 
and  still  is  a  subject  of  much  comment.     Josephus  lived 


104:  Theology  and  Mythology. 

at  tlie  time  v.-lieu,  it  is  alleged,  Christianity  originated, 
lie  is  generally  admitted  to  have  been  a  painstaking 
historian,  and  it  is  almost  inexplicable  that  he  could  liave 
passed  over,  as  unvs^orthy  of  attention,  the  public  minis- 
try of  Jesus,  his  many  miracles — more  especially  the 
raising  of  the  dead  to  life — if  these  reputed  exercises  of 
superhuman  and  supernatural  power  were  well-authenti- 
cated historical  facts  or  had  attracted  national  attention. 
In  the  writings  of  Josephus  there  are  found  two  very 
brief  allusions  to  Jesus,  one  of  them  merely  alluduig  to 
him  as  "  a  man — if  it  be  lawful  to  call  him  a  man — who 
did  many  wonderful  things";  but  it  is  verj'- generally 
conceded  by  scholars  and  critics,  both  within  and  outside 
the  Church,  that  these  passages  are  piously  manufactured 
interpolations,  and  that  they  found  no  place  in  the  orig- 
inal composition  of  Josephus.  If  the  life  and  miracles 
of  Jesus  were  such  as  the  Gospel  writers  represent,  it  is 
highly  improbable  that  Josephus  or  any  other  contem- 
porary Jewish  writer  would  have  omitted  all  reference 
to  events  so  strange  and  astounding.  At  the  time  com- 
monly assigned  to  the  life  of  Jesus,  the  Jews  were  not, 
as  a  people,  sunk  in  ignorance  or  barl)arism.  The  Ro- 
mans, the  most  civilized  people  in  the  world,  occupied 
and  held  Judea.  Roman  armies  and  Roman  officers 
were  quartered  through  the  country.  The  Roman  law 
was  in  force.  The  report  of  the  miracles  of  Jesus  must 
have  reached  the  Roman  governor.  We  are  told  that  a 
centurion  in  the  Roman  army  had  a  miracle  performed 
in  his  family;  and  though  it  was  only  the  healing  of  his 
child,  which  misht  or  misrht  not  have  been  classed  as  a 
"  miracle,"  yet  it  was  such,  from  the  gospel  narrative,  as 
to  have  attracted  some  attention.     Ev'^en  in   the  days  of 


i 


Theology  and  Mythology.  165 

Roman  prodigies,  portents  and  oracular  responses,  wliieli 
at  this  time  even  liad  become  exceedingly  rare  and  of 
very  dubious  character,  well-authenticated  cases  of  the 
raising  of  the  dead  to  life  were  not  of  every-day  occur- 
rence. 

Is  not  the  inference  inevitable  that  the  mist  of  ob- 
scurity enveloped  both  the  ministration  and  the  miracles 
of  Jesus;  and  that  previous  to  his  death  and  the  promul- 
gation of  his  religion,  there  never  was  given  to  his  name 
other  than  a  purely  local  and  provincial  notoriety  ? 

This  marvelous  story  of  Jesus  cannot  be  true^  if  the 
laiiverse  is  governed  hy  lavj.  To  account  satisfactorily 
at  all  for  its  origin  we  must  believe  that  the  three  synop- 
tical gospels  were  "  non-apostolic  digests  of  spoken  and 
written  apostolic  tradition."  This  is  the  view  generally 
entertained  by  unprejudiced  biblical  scholars  who  strive 
to  look  at  history  as  it  is,  and  not  at  what  the  Church  has 
given  to  the  world  as  such 

It  was  because  Jesus  bore  tlic  titl^  of  King  of  the 
Jews,  and  not  that  of  '-the  Son  of  God,"  that  Pilate  con- 
demned him  to  death ;  though  Pilate  was  so  utterly 
assured  of  the  insignificance  and  unimportance  of  the  as- 
sumption of  regal  distinction  by  Jesus  in  a  moment  of 
weakness  and  at  the  instigation  of  a  fickle  rabble,  that 
he  Vv'onld  instantly  have  dismissed  the  charge  of  treason 
brouglit  against  Jesus  were  it  not  for  the  pressui*e  brought 
to  bear  upon  him  by  the  Jewish  priests,  who  pushed  so 
far  as  to  tell  Pilate  that  if  he  let  "  this  man  "  go  he  was 
not  Cagsar's  friend.  Further,  it  may  be  remarked  that 
there  exists  very  great  variance  between  the  Gospel  ac- 
counts of  the  only  interview  that  ever  occurred  between 


^- 


IGQ  Theology  and  Mythology. 

Jesus  and  Pilate,  and  irreconcikible  v,'ith  tlie  hypothesis 
of  divine  inspiration. 

Mattliew,  Mark  and  Luke  all  agree  in  representing 
that  when  Pilate  asked  Jesus  if  he  were  the  king  of  the 
Jews,  he  only  answered,  "  Thou  sayest";  and  so  remark- 
able was  tlie  silence  of  Jesus  on  this  momentous  occasion 
that  tv/o  of  the  writers  add,  "And  he  answered  him 
never  a  word,  insomuch  that  the  governor  greatly  mar- 
veled" (Matt,  xxvii,  14;  Mark  xv,  5).  John,  liowever, 
gives  the  following  account  (John  xviii,  33,  et  seq.) : 
"  Tlien  Pilate  entered  into  the  judgment-hall  again,  and 
called  Jesus,  and  said  unto  him,  Art  thou  the  king  of  the 
Jews  ?  Jesus  answered  him,  Sayest  thou  this  thing  of 
thyself,  or  did  others  tell  it  thee  of  me  ?  Pilate  an- 
swered. Am  I  a  Jew  ?  Thine  own  nation  and  the  chief 
■priests  liave  delivered  thee  unto  me :  what  hast  thou 
done  ?  Jesus  answered.  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world :  if  my  kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then  would 
my  servants  fight,  that  I  sliould  not  he  delivered  to  the 
Jews :  but  now  is  my  kingdom  not  from  hence.  Pilate 
therefore  said  unto  him,  Art  thou  a  king,  then  ?  Jesus 
answered.  Thou  sayest  that  I  am  a  king.  To  this  end 
was  I  born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world  :■ 
that  I  should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth.  Every  one 
that  is  of  the  truth  heareth  my  voice.  Pilate  saith  unto 
him.  What  is  truth?  And  when  he  liad  said  tliis,  he 
went  out  again  unto  the  Jews,  and  saith  unto  them,  I 
find  in  him  no  fault  at  all." 

ISTow,  if  this  account  of  the  only  interview  between 
Jesus  and  Pilate  be  inspired  by  the  God  of  truth,  and 
if  the  conversation  between  Jesus  and  Pilate  be  accu- 
rately recorded,  what,  it  maybe  asked,  becomes  of  tlie 


Theology  and  Mythology.  167 

statement  made  by  the  other  writers,  who  agree  in  re- 
porting that  "  he  answered  him  never  a  word,  insomuch 
that  tlie  governor  greatly  marveled  "  ?  On  no  theory 
can  snch  inconsistency  be  reconciled  if  the  inspiration  of 
the  several  conflicting  accounts  be  insisted  upon.  If, 
however,  the  claims  to  divine  inspiration  be  abandoned — 
as  they  should  and  soon  vrill  be  universally — if  these 
narratives  are  treated  as  all  otlier  human  compositions, 
subject  to  inaccuracies  and  imperfections,  then  there  will 
be  no  difficulty  in  arriving  at  the  conclusion  that  the 
writer  of  the  gospel  bearing  John's  name  has  blended 
traditionary  reports  vrith  the  creations  of  a  fanciful  im- 
ao-inotion.  We  should  regret  much  to  be  forced  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  vv'ritcr  quoted  from  has  given  the 
world  an  accurate  account  of  this  interview  between 
Jesus  ajid  Pilate,  as,  no  matter  what  may  have  been  his 
intention,. he  has  succeeded  in  representing  Jesus,  in  the 
almost  supreme  act  of  his  life,  descending  to  equivocation 
of  a  very  dubious  kind,  and  trifling  with  very  solemn 
questions  that  admitted  easily  of  plain  and  direct  re- 
sponses and  simple  explanations.  Had  Jesus  engaged 
in  this  fencing  with  vrords,  as  he  is  here  represented, 
eagerly  grasping  trivial  admissions,  ashing  Pilate,  "  Say- 
est  thou  this  thing  of  thyself,  or  did  others  tell  thee,"  as 
if  it  were  a  matter  of  any  consequence  where  Pilate's 
information,  if  any  he  had,  on  the  subject  was  derived 
from  ;  then,  with  sarcastic  scorn,  may  Pilate  well  have 
replied,  "  Am  I  a  Jew  ?"  But  the  language  of  this  re- 
cital bears  within  itself  the  marks  of  fabrication.  Jesus 
speaks  of  being  "  delivered  from  the  Jews,''  as  though' 
he  were  a  foreitirner  who  had  fallen  into  their  hands,  and 


168  Theology  and  Mythology. 

not  a  Jew  liimself.     No  representative  man  would  so 
speak  of  liis  own  people  and  race. 

In  dwelling  for  a  moment  npon  the  view  of  the  char- 
acter of  Jesns  presented  by  the  narratives  of  the  closing 
scenes  of  his  life,  one  is  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  stub- 
born silence  and  indifference  he  maintained  when  brought 
before  Pilate  and  Herod,  foreign  as  it  is  to  all  impres- 
sions we  have  received  from  following  him  throu2;h  all 
the  other  scenes  of  his  life.  The  patriots,  reformers  and 
philosophers  of  the  world  in  days  gone  by,  when  brought, 
in  consequence  of  their  advocacy  of  principles  they  be- 
lieved to  be  true,  before  tribunals  in  whose  hands  were 
the  issues  of  life  and  death,  appear  almost  without  ex- 
ception to' have  advanced  in  courage  and  dignity  of  bear- 
ing. They  seemed  rather  to  be  engaged  in  trying  and 
condemning  their  judges — and  that  is  wl:at  .in  reality 
they  have  done — than  receiving  condemnation  from  their 
inferiors.  Socrates  condemned  his  judges,  not  the  judges 
Socrates.  In  that  supreme  moment,  their  proud  spirits 
scorning  torture,  rising  far  above  the  ignoble  fear  of 
death  and  all  the  terrors  that  confound  weak  natures, 
they  have  magnetized  not  only  their  senseless  judges 
but  all  future  generations  of  liberty-loving  men,  by  the 
exhibition  of  titanic  and  almost  superhuman  strength  of 
will.  They  stepped,  as  it  were,  outside  of  themselves, 
and  seemed  rather  the  incarnation  of  spiritual  forces  en- 
gaged in  a  war  of  ideas,  than  creatures  contending  with 
an  unimportant  question  of  life  and  death.  History  re- 
joices that  Socrates  died  as  he  died,  for  otherwise  we 
should  have  lost  the  "  Apology."  But  neither  in  the 
appearance  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  before  his  judges  nor  in 


Theology  and  Mythology.  169 

the  painful  closing  scenes  of  his  life  was  there  any  grand, 
heroic,  or  even  manly  assertion  of  either  the  purity  of 
his  life,  the  noble  aims  he  had  in  view,  or  the  sacredness 
of  his  mission.  The  description  of  Isaiah,  though  not 
written  for  him,  might  be  applied  to  him  with  singular 
propriety  :  "  As  a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so 
he  openeth  not  his  mouth."  The  Gospel  accounts  ail 
agree  in  conveying  the  idea  that  he  fully  realized  the 
fate  that  threatened  him,  so  that  his  condemnation  was 
anticipated  by  him.  In  explanation  of  his  silence,  it 
may  have  been  that,  conscious  of  his  integrity,  he  dis- 
dained to  reply  to  the  monstrous  accusations  brought 
against  him,  though  he  did  enter  into  a  controversy  with 
the  chief  priests  and  elders.  The  brutal  treatment  he 
received  at  the  hands  of  the  debased  rabble,  instigated 
by  a  bigoted  priesthood,  who  spat  in  his  face  and  smote 
him  in  derision  with  the  palms  of  their  hands,  may  have 
shocked  and  humiliated  him  so  as  to  render  him  incapa- 
ble of  all  utterance  except  the  half-stifled  cry  of  a  wound- 
ed spirit  and  broken  heart.  The  records  of  human 
wrongs  contain  nothing  sadder  than  the  story  of  the 
brutal  indignities  offered  to  the  mild  and  tender-hearted 
Nazarene  in  the  halls  of  Caiaphas.  But  eternal  justice 
ever  vindicates  every  crime  committed  and  every  out- 
rage inflicted  upon  the  conscience  of  humanity.  It  is 
ever  over  the  Bridge  of  Sighs  that  each  pioneer  of  prog- 
ress marches  into  the  citadel  of  glory,  and,  high  above 
the  low-lying  plains,  plants  on  its  impregnable  heights 
the  banner  of  his  own  immortality. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  rapid  spread  of  Christianity  doQS  not  argue  either 
the  truth  of  Kevelation  or  the  divine  character  of  its 
nominal  founder.  It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon  the 
means  by  ^vhich  the  "conversion"  of  the  world  was  ac- 
complished. Three  hundred  and  thirty  years  elapsed 
before  Christianity  received  State  recognition.  Con- 
stantino, Avho  was  subject  to  superstitious  impressions, 
pretended  to  be  converted  b}^  the  appearance  of  a  fiery 
cross  in  the  heavens ;  but  he  did  not  venture  upon  any 
attack  upon  the  ancient  religion  of  Home  until  after  the 
defeat  of  his  pagan  colleague  Licinius:  Then  he.placed 
the  government  of  the  provinces  in  tlie  hands  of  Chris- 
tians, prohibited  the  temple  worship,  and  made  prayer 
to  the  dethroned  gods  punishable  by  deatli.  There  is 
no  mistake  greater  than  the  popular  one  that  indulges 
in  the  delusion  that  Christianity  owed  its  propagation  to 
miraculous  interposition  or  ^argumentative  and  philo- 
sophical appeals  to  the  intelligent.  Not  unfrequently 
has  the  "  conversion  "  of  a  pagan  or  barbarian  chief  to 
Christianity  been  immediately  followed  by  the  baptism 
into  the  faith  of  Jesus  of  the  entire  tribe  over  which  lie 


Theology  and  ILyihology.  171 

exercised  undisputed  sway.  For  the  most  part  religions 
liave  been  propagated  by  force  and  not  by  argument. 
The  rapidity  of  the  spread  of  Mahometanisra  is  as  mar- 
velous as  that  of  Christianity,  and  its  impression  has 
been  equally  durable  upon  a  great  portion  of  the  human 
race. 

The  successful  establishment  of  Mormonism  on  this 
continent,  in  this  much-boasted  age  of  enlightenment, 
and  among  a  people  having  the  reputation  of  being  the 
most  practical  in  the  world,  introducing,  too.  Oriental 
polygamy,  foreign  to  the  moral  instincts  of  our  people 
and  the  laws  and  institutions  of  the  Kepublic,  shows  how 
rapidly  religious  fanaticism  finds  numerous  followers 
even  under  very  adverse  circumstances. 

At  the  time  of  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  all 
circumstances  were  extremely  favorable  for  the  promul- 
gation of  new  religious  ideas,  or  old  ideas  clothed  in  new 
garments.  The  popular  religious  sentiment  of  Europe 
was  far  advanced  in  the  process  of  disintegration.  The 
belief  in  the  gods  of  Greece  and  Home  had  lost  all  vital- 
ity. Theology  had  sunk  into  mythology.  Four  hun- 
dred years  before  Christ,  Socrates  invaded  high  Olympus 
and,  with  nothing  more  terrible  than  a  legitimate  syllo- 
gism, routed  the  heavenly  host — gods,  goddesses,  demi- 
gods and  heroes.  Plato  taught  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  and  was  the  fountain  from  which  St.  John  drew  his 
inspiration.  Pythagoras  held  the  doctrine  of  transmi- 
gration, while  many  learned  and  distinguished  philoso- 
phers regarded  death  as  the  final  extinction  of  individual 
existence.  The  religious  systems  and  establishments 
were  resting  upon  popular  indifierence.  They  had  long 
since  been  condemned  by  the  educated  classes.     They 


r 


172     .  Theology  and  Mythology. 

were  even  ridiculed  by  prominent  writers  with  impunity. 
The  orators,  of  course,  made  occasional  allusions  to  the 
altars,  shrines  and  temples  of  the  immortal  gods ;  but 
this  was  done  merely  to  add  grace  and  dignity  to  their 
orations.  The  worship  of  the  gods,  once  decent  and 
solemn,  had  degenerated  into  the  undisguised  exhibition 
of  the  grossest  licentiousness.  The  religion  of  Jesus, 
dispensing  with  a  priesthood,  abolishing  expensive  and 
burdensome  sacrifices,  of  benefit  only  to  the  priests  and 
their  dependents,  recognizing  the  doctrine  of  the  ftither- 
hood  of  God  and  the  brotlierhood  of  humanity,  promising 
eternal  happiness  to  the  poor  and  afilicted,  s]3urning 
riches  and  earthly  honors,  commended  itself  at  once  to 
the  oppressed  and  unfortunate,  and  made  converts  among 
the  slaves  and  illiterate  by  teaching  that  they  were  the 
equals  of  the  learned  and  powerful  when  they,  accepted 
the  religion  of  Jesus.  Among  the  early  Christians  the 
distinctions  of  race  and  class  were  abolished.  "  There 
was  neither  Jew  nor  Gentile,  neither  bond  nor  free." 
They  had  all  things  in  common.  They  were  true  Com- 
munists. A  bond  of  fellowship,  hitherto  novel  in  tlie 
world,  united  them  as  one  family.  It  must,  too,  be  ad- 
mitted that  the  purity  of  life  that  distinguished  the  prim- 
itive Christians,  strangely  in  contrast  with  that  of  their 
successors,  won  over  to  the  new  belief  many  disgusted 
with  sacerdotal  arrogance,  impositions  and  pretensions, 
as  well  as  the  indecencies  of  the  established  worship  of 
the  gods.  When  Christianity,  after  three  or  four  centu- 
ries of  existence,  succeeded  in  capturing  the  support  of 
the  Koman  rulers,  who  merely  regarded  religion  as  a 
matter  of  state  policy,  it  abandoned,  the  simplicity  of  its 
primitive  worship.    It  instituted  an  organized  priesthood, 


Theologij  and  Mytholorjy.  173 

hicrarcbj,  and  imposing  ritual.  It  entered  tlic  ten:iples\ 
deserted  by  tlie  detiironed  gods  of  Olympus.  From  tlie 
altars  of  Jnpiter  incense  ascended  to  Jehovah  and  Jesus. 
AYomen  no  longer  prayed  to  Juno.  The  "  Virgin  Moth- 
er "  reigned  supreme.  Pandering  to  the  popular  craving 
for  magnificence  of  worship,  it  appropriated,  with  scarcely 
any  modification,  the  ancient  rites  and  ceremonies  of 
Paganism.  To  so  great  an  extent  did  the  Roman  Church 
celebrate  with  splendor  the  rites  of  the  ancient  religions 
she  incorporated  with  Christianity,  that,  as  has  been 
truthfully  remarked,  it  would  have  been  difiicult  to  tell 
whether  Paganism  had  been  Christianized  or  Christianity 
Paganized. 

"  The  pale  Galilean  has  conquered,"  but  it  has  only^ 
been  by  passing  nnder  tlie  yoke  of  the  conquered,  and 
assuming  the  banners,  the  emblems  and  pass-words  of 
the  enemy.  It  is  a  conquest  in  which  genuine  Christian- 
ity has  disappeared  or  skulks  behind  altars,  pillars,  paint- 
ings and  music.  Christianity,  as  taught  and  understood 
by  Jesus  and  his  followers,  has  ceased  to  exist  for  sixteen 
hundred  years.  It  is  doubtful  if  it  ever  survived  to  the 
close  of  the  second  century.  Even  the  infant  Church 
was  driven  to  abandon  the  communistic  idea  that  distin- 
guished the  first  few  years  of  its  existence.  Tacitus  in- 
forms us  that  Pompey,  in  his  Syrian  wars,  broke  into 
the  temple  at  Jerusalem  and  explored  the  Holy  of  Ho- 
lies, but  found  no  trace  of  the  indwelling  divinity.  In 
modern  Christianity  hardly  a  trace  of  the  religion  of 
Jesus  is  discernible.  Jesus  and  his  true  life  rai^ht  be 
taken  from  Christianity  without  impairing  the  integ- 
rity of  the  system  as  it  exists.  It  is  doubtful  if  even 
his  abduction  would  excite  notice,  or,  if  noticed,  cause 


IT'ir  Theology  and  Mythology. 

'^r.^gret,  comment  or  surjDrisc.  It  is  now  a  vast  soulless 
ecclesiastical  corporation  that  has  woven  its  web  about 
kings,  emperors,  constitutional  governments  and  repub- 
lics. With  its  maintenance  mi2;htv  interests  are  identi- 
lied.  It  has  permeated  the  social  and  political  existence 
of  every  civilized  government  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
Its  thoroiigh  knowledge  of  the  amiable  and  weak  side  of 
human  nature  has  enabled  it  to  ally  to  its  zealous  sup- 
port tlie  almost  entire  female  influence  of  the  civilized 
world,  and  the  consequent  capture  of  every  rising  gener- 
ation.    It  must  be   admitted,   too,  that   tlie    dissenting 

■  churches  have  modified  both  the  rigid  doctrines  of  the 
last  century  and  the  manner  of  their  presentation,  so  as 
not  to  offend  the  intelligence  of  the  age.  God  is  now 
rarely  represented  looking  down  from  the  battlements  of 
heaven  and  enjoying  a  holy  satisfaction  from  the  specta- 
cle of  countless  myriads  of  his  creatures  suffering  ineffa- 
ble torments.  Heaven  is  no  longer  filled  with  stupid 
saints  whose  sole  occupation  consists  in  standing  around 
a  great  white  throne,  with  harps  in  their  hands,  singing, 
"  Glory  to  the  Lamb."  "  Hell  "  is  rarely  mentioned 
among  "cultivated  people.  The  Devil,  with  hoofs  and 
horns  and  leering  aspect,  that  terrified  the  grown  chil- 
dren of  the  last  century,  has  disappeared,  like  the  myth- 
ical ghosts,  at  the  approach  of  the  first  gray  streaks  of 
morning's  dawn.  It  is  now  beginning  to  be  understood 
that  moral  evil  and  wrong  are  not  spirits  of  pandemo- 
nium, but  the  results  of  imperfect,  stunted  and  erroneous 
education. 

A  great  truth  is  embodied  in  the  story  of  Luther 
flino-ine:  an  inkstand  at  the  Devil's  head.  Witchcraft  has 
fallen  dead  at  the  door  of  the  public  school-house.     The 


Theology  and  M'yihology.  175 

whistle  of  tlie  steam-engine  has  driven  off  the  ghosts  and 
disembodied  spirits  that  haunted  the  still  hour  of  mid- 
night. Individyal  independence  of  character,  in  part 
tlie  cause  and  partly  the  result  of  free  political  institu- 
tions, has  checked  the  domineering  spirit  of  priestcraft. 
The  doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  kings,  based  upon 
the  teaching  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  once  potent  in 
riveting  the  chains  bj  which  the  most  infamous  despots 
enslaved  millions,  has  scarcely  an  advocate,  even  among 
nations  still  adhering  to  the  monarchical  form  of  govern- 
ment. 

In  America  the  shackles  liave  fallen  from  the  souls- 
and  bodies  of  five  millions  of  people,  whose  only  offense 
was  the  color  of  their  skin.  This  great  work  was  accom- 
plished, not  by  the  supporters  of  biblical  inspiration,  but 
by  the  awakened  conscience  of  the  American  people. 
In  this  connection  it  should  not  be  foro-otten  that  from 
the  Bible  itself  have  been  drawn  the  strono^estarccuments 
in  support  of  African  slavery,  which  so  long  tarnished  the 
fair  name  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  States,  and 
which  for  nearly  a  century  corrupted  the  lifeblood  of  the  ,^ 
freest  nation  on  earth. 

It  has  been  only  since  the  Reformation,  which  was  a 
revolt  of  free  thought  against  the  overwliclming  tyranny 
of  theology  and  ecclesiasticism,  that  the  Indo-European 
races  have  advanced  by  sucli  marvelous  strides  in  the 
field  of  scientific  investigation,  the  result  of  which  has 
been  the  discovery  of  natural  laws  and  principles  whose 
application  to  the  necessities  of  the  age  has  been  of  the 
highest  importance  to  m.ankind.  The  Reformation, 
though  a  very  partial  and  incomplete  emancipation,  bore 
within  it  the  germ  of  the  mighty  progressive  movement 


> 


176  Theology  and  jrf/thology. 

that  has  carried  forward  the  European  intellect  during 
the  last  three  hundred  years.  Probably  previous  to  the 
movement  of  the  Reformation,  Europe  produced  as  great 
and  original  thinkers  as  at  any  successive  period,  though 
we  do  not  assert  that  this  is  so  ;  but  it  must  be  admitted 
that  the  average  of  intelligence  has  advanced  to  a  higher 
standard  than  ever  before  attained  since  man's  appear- 
ance upon  the  earth.  Three  hundred  years  ago  a  man 
who  could  write  his  name  and  read  with  facility  his 
mother  speech  in  a  printed  book  was  considered  well 
educated.  At  present  the  man  who  lives  by  his  daily 
toil  is  better  acquainted  with  the  social  and  political 
movements  of  the  times  than  the  mailed  baron  of  the 
Middle  Ages  was  with  the  history  and  policy  of  the  age 
in  which  he  lived.  The  invention  of  printing,  the  appli- 
cation of  steam  to  locomotion,  and  the  discovery  of  the 
electric  telegraph  have  revolutionized  the  world.  Yet  is 
mankind  but  in  the  infancy  of  intellectual  growth.  The 
achievements  of  the  past,  wonderful  and  magnificent  as 
they  confessedly  are,  are  as  toys  and  playthings  compared 
with  the  evolutions  and  revolutions  of  future  generations. 
Fifty  years  ago  had  a  man  been  found  bold  enough  to 
predict  that  within  the  lapse  of  a  few  years  a  wire  would 
be  laid  between  Europe  and  America  by  which  a  message 
could  be  transmitted  across  the  ocean  in  far  less  time 
than  occupied  in  delivering  it,  he  would  have  been  uni- 
versally regarded  as  a  lunatic.  Who  doubts  that,  five 
hundred  years  hence,  should  any  of  our  inventions  re- 
main, they  will  be  regarded  with  an  interest  similar  to 
that  we  bestow  upon  the  rude  stone  implements  and 
antiquarian  remains  of  the  aborigines  of  this  continent  ? 


Theology  and  Mythology.  \1*l 

A  true  poet  of  our  o'^n  days,  who  ever  appreciates 
with  almost  prophetic  foresight  the  great  movements  of 
humanity,  has  well  sung  : 

"  Well — were  it  not  a  pleasant  thing 

To  fall  asleep  with  all  one's  friends; 
To  pass  with  all  our  social  ties 

To  silence  from  the  paths  of  men ; 
And  every  hundred  years  to  rise 

And  learn  the  world,  and  sleep  again; 
To  sleep  through  terms  of  mighty  wars, 

And  wake  on  science  grown  to  more, 
On  secrets  of  the  brain,  the  stars. 

As  wild  as  aught  of  fairy  lore; 
And  all  that  else  the  years  will  show, 

The  poet-forms  of  stronger  hours, 
The  vast  republics  that  may  grow. 

The  federations  and  tlie  powers; 
Titanic  forces  taking  birth 

In  divers  seasons,  divers  climes; 
For  we  are  ancients  of  the  earth, 

And  in  the  morning  of  the  times." 


CHAPTEE  X. 

There  are  branches  of  investigation  in  wliich  knox^'l- 
edge  is  obtainecl.  There  are  exact  sciences.  There  is 
truth  in  arithmetic,  in  geometry,  in  geologj,  in  botany, 
in  astronomy,  and  in  all  the  physical  sciences.  E"o  mat- 
ter what  widely  divergent  and  contradictory  views  men 
may  entertain  on  the  subject  of  religion;  they  will  unite 
in  recognizing  a  mathematical  truth.  But  when  the 
claims  of  several  writings  supposed  to  contain  the  ex- 
pression of  the  Divine  will  are  made  the  subject  of  in- 
quiry, immediately  the  bitterest  controversy  and  confu- 
sion inextricable  arise.  The  believer  in  the  inspiration 
of  the  Hebrew  Scrii3tures  and  the  unbeliever  have  no 
common  ground  on  which  to  stand.  The  believer  ac- 
cepts them  as  infallibly  true,  without  attempting  to  ad- 
duce proof  to  convince  himself  or  others  of  the  correct- 
ness of  his  belief,  lie  needs  no  proof.  It  is  all  with 
him  a  matter  of  fiiith,  and  he  believes  tliat  his  salvation 
would  be  imperiled  did  he  attempt  to  doubt  for  an  in- 
stant their  divine  authenticity.  Tlie  infidel  will  assert 
that  as  an  embodiment  of  divine  truth  liis  reason  cannot 
accept  the  Bible.     To  liim  it  is  no  more  sacred  than  the 


Theology  and  Iftjtholoyy  1T9 

poems   of  Horaci-   or  Ilesiod,  the  Yecks   or  the  Koran. 
As  a  picture  of  Oriental  life  and  manners  it  is  interest- 
ing ;  as  marking  the  moral  and  spiritual  development  of 
a  portion  of  mankind  it  is  probably  of  more  value  than 
any  other  work  tliat-has  survived  the  accidents  of  time. 
He  will  assert  that  it  was  composed  at  different   epochs 
of  the  world's  history  by  men,  for  the  most  part  of  ordi- 
nary ability.     He  will  assert  that  parts  of  both  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments  are  such  as  ought  never  to  have 
been  translated  and  placed  indiscriminately  in  the  hands 
of  the  youth  of  both  sexes.     He  would  also  assert  that 
the   Scriptures   are  full  of  disci-epancies,  contradictions 
and  absurdities  that  ought  to  find  no  place  in  a  book 
claimino;  to  contain  a  revelation  of  Divine  will,  and  con- 
tain  false  recitals  of  miracles  and  physical  impossibilities 
in   the  economy  of  nature.     He  would  contend  that  as 
Eevelation  it  is  a  failure,  as  it  contains  nothing  not  dis- 
coverable by  the  exercise  of  ordinary  intelligent  observa- 
tion when  it  pretends  to   deal  with  human  events ;  that 
it  fails  to   define  what  is  soul  and  what  is  spirit,  the  ori- 
gin of  the  universe,  if  it  had  an  origin,  and  the  existence 
of  God  ;  that  its  writers  were  grossly  ignorant  of  astron- 
omy   and   Avcre    very   imperfectly   acquainted  with   the 
causes  or  operations  of  physical  laws ;  that  they,  for  the 
most  part,   in    childlike   simplicity,   imagined    that  the 
heaven  was   a  solid  sphere   in  which  the  stars  were  set ; 
that  the   deluge  was  caused  by  the  opening  of  the  win- 
dows of  heaven  and  letting  down  the  waters  that  were 
above  the  firmament ;  that  the  rainbow  was  placed  by 
Jehovah  in  the  sky  as  a  sign   that  he  would  never  again 
drown  the  world,  when  in  truth  its  appearance  is  caused 
by  an  ordinar}'  operation  of  nature  that  every  schoolboy 


180  Theology  and  Mythology. 

is  acquainted  M'ith;  that  the  God  of  the  Universe  ate 
cakes  Avith  Abraham  and  wrestled  with  Jacob  ;  that 
Moses  with  a  magic  rod  divided  the  waters  of  the  Ecd 
Sea;  that  a  pillar  of  fire  and  a  cloud  for  forty  years 
guided  a  single  tribe  through  a  wilderness ;  tliat  God 
dwelt  in  a  box  called  an  ark,  and  was  on  one  occasion 
captured  in  battle  ;  that  Jehovah  as  a  deity  is  not  enti- 
tled to  ordinary  respect,  much  less  adoration  and  wor- 
ship; that  he  is  exhibited  constantly  as  repenting  and 
changing  his  intentions ;  that  in  moments  of  irritation 
he  has  killed  by  sword,  pestilence,  fire  from  heaven, 
famine  and  earthquakes,  not  only  thousands  of  his  crea- 
tures whom  he  regards  as  enemies,  but  even  his  own 
chosen  people ;  that  he  has  frequently,  in  wanton  exhibi- 
tion of  his  power,  worked  the  most  senseless  miracles, 
such  as  making  an  ass  speak  with  human  speecli,  and 
creating  a  whale  or  large  fish  in  which  to  imprison  for 
three  days  a  disobedient  prophet ;  that  one  of  his  proph- 
ets ascended  alive  to  heaven  in  a  chariot  of  fire;  that  he 
himself  assumed  the  form  of  a  burning  bush  ;  that  he 
sent  lying  prophets  to  lure  liis  enemies  to  destruction, 
which  in  a  human  ruler  would  be  characterized  as  basest 
treachery ;  that  he  exhibited  his  hind  parts  to  JMoses ; 
that  he  lias  blessed  murderers  and  assassins ;  that  he 
sanctioned  and  directed  the  extermination  of  helpless 
women,  prattling  infants  and  dumb  cattle ;  that  ]ie  per- 
mitted his  old  enemy  Satan,  on  an  express  understanding 
between  them,  and  to  settle  a  dispute  that  originated  in 
heaven,  to  torment  his  servant  Job  so  that  he  cursed  the 
day  he  was  born ;  and,  finally,  that,  after  for  ages,  run- 
ning into  thousands  of  years,  endeavoring  to  save  his 
people   from   eternal   hell   and  its  torments  by  means  of 


Theology  and  Mythology.  181 

eacriiicial  offerings  and  religious  observances,  he  aban- 
doned the  Bclieme  as  impracticable,  and,  as  a  last  re- 
source, sent,  some  nineteen  hundred  years  ago,  his  son, 
born  of  a  woman,  into  the  "world,  whom  he  caused  to  be 
crucified ;  that  his  blood  spilled  is  the  last  grand  sacrifice 
that  Jehovah  accepts  in  complete  satisfaction  for  all  past 
and  future  offenses  of  mankind. 

That  there  existed  no  necessity  for  a  "  divine  "  com- 
munication such  as  the  Jewish  Scriptures  give  us  hardly 
needs  discussion.  If  the  mere  surface-reading  of  the 
scattered  fragments  of  Jewish  legends,  history,  poetry 
and  mythology  that  are  called  the  Scriptures  does  not 
inevitably  lead  to  the  dissipation  of  all  inspirational  pre- 
tenses, no  argument,  however  reasonable,  and  no  appeals, 
however  earnest,  to  the  understanding  and  intelligence, 
will  avail  to  efface  the  almost  indelible  impressions  of 
superstitious  reverence  for  the  Bible  that  formed  the 
basis  of  the  education  of  the  world  up  to  a  recent  period. 

We  concede  freely  and  thankfully  that  the  greater 
portion  of  the  New-Testament  writings,  aside  from  tlie 
barbarous  doctriije  of  the  atonement  and  the  story  of 
the  miracles  of  Jesus,  contain  many  noble  enunciations 
of  divine  truth — and  all  truth  is  divine — of  morality,  self- 
denial,  charity,  and  all  the  virtues.  But  it  by  no  means 
follows,  because  of  these  excellences,  that  it  owes  its 
origin  to  any  higher  inspiration  than  ought  to  be  ascribed 
to  the  productions  of  many  others — poets,  historians, 
•philosophers  and  thinkers — who  have,  in  every  age,  since 
civilization  attained  any  advanced  degree  of  development, 
dignified  humanity  by  their  labors  and  consecration  to 
its  service.  Whatever  of  truth  is  contained  in  the  Script- 
ures will   survive   to   sweeten   and   dignify  life ;  but  all 


183  Theology  and  IiTyiJcology . 

tliat  is  untrue,  of  local  a.nd  sectarian  application,  must 
and  ought  to  perisli.  Tlie  Old-Testament  writings  are 
cliieflj  valuable  as  indicating  tJie  progress  man  has  made 
in  religious  ideas.  As  man  advanced  in  knowledge,  the 
conceptions  of  the  deity  or  the  gods  ho  worshiped  under- 
went a  chans^e.  Even  from  the  Bible  wc  can  sec  the 
bed-rock  foundation  of  the  modern  temple.  The  hosts 
of  heaven,  the  sun,  moon  and  stars,  were  among  the  first 
objects  of  v/orship.  Then  cams  serpent-worship,  which 
may  be  recognized  even  in  the  Mosaic  dispensation. 
Tlic  sacrifice  of  animals  succeeded  human  sacrifices. 
This  was  a  step  in  advance.  Now  the  intelligence  of 
the  Avorld  revolts  against  tlic  absurdity  of  anim^al  sacri- 
fice, and  wo  have  the  milder  and  bloodless  substitute, 
the  sacrifice  of  praise  and  prayer.  In  the  religion  of  the 
future  there  will  be  neither  altars,  priests  nor  sacrifices. 
ITo  prayer  will  bo  idly  ofifered  up  to  the  Inevitahle  and 
Wecessary.  It  will  bo  recognized  that  inexorable  La\v 
permeates  all  nature,  animate  and  inanimate,  sentient 
and  senseless ;  that  its  existence  is  proclaimed  with 
equal  magnificence  and  significance  in  tiie  motions  of  the 
unnumbered  systems  of  worlds  that  rotate  in  limitless 
space  as  in  the  composition  of  the  minutest  atom  tliat 
floats  on  a  sunbeam.  On  every  side  is  impenetrable 
mystery,  for  mystery  is  but  another  name  for  ignorance. 
Life  is  a  myster3^  Death  is  a  mystery.  The  existence 
of  anything  is  a  mystery,  and  annihilation  is  impossible. 
Man  is  mortal.  Humanity  is  immortal.  The  individual' 
is  nothing :  the  race  is  omnipotent.  The  soldier  drops 
out  of  the  ranks,  but  the  army  moves  on  forever.  Its 
destiny  is  progress.  Revolutions  never  go  backward. 
Laro-er  ligh.t,  fidler  grov.'th,  freer  movement,  wider  views 


Theology  and  Mythology  133 

and  nobler  aims  distinguish  each  increasing  age.  •  The\, 
world  is  greater,  freer,  happier,  purer  and  stronger  now 
tlian  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  golden  age  never  did 
exist,  and  least  of  all  in  the  days  of  darkest  ignorance, 
abjectest  slavery,  cruelest  oppression  and  sternest  relig- 
ions domination.  The  fingers  of  priestcraft  and  king- 
craft no  longer  clutch  tlio  throat  of  civilization.  Evei\  /' 
the  churches  have  abandoned  preaching  the  doctrine  of 
eternal  hell.  The  light  of  a  better  civilization  is  stream- 
ing down  upon  us  and  our  children.  .  Scientific  inquiry 
is  expanding  the  bounds  of  knowledge  and  dissipating 
the  clouds  of  myths  and  superstition  that  enveloped  the 
human  understanding.  Popular  education  has  attained 
a  high  standard.  The  inventive  faculty  which  so  largely 
distinguishes  the  present  age  is  rapidly  reducing  the  nat- 
ural forces  into  the  service  of  man  and  rendering  manual 
occupations  less  severe  and  laborious.  The  treasures  of 
art  and  literature  arc  no  longer  the  exclusive  possessions 
of  the  rich  and  powerful,  but  are  spread  broadcast  before  ' 
the  people.  It  is  beginning  to  be  understood,  in  political 
science,  that  governments  are  intended  for  the  benefit  of 
the  governed,  alid  that  in  the  people  is  vested  and  inheres 
all  sovereign  power.  And  though  the  time  has  not  yet 
come  wlien  , 

"  The  -vvar-drum  beats  no  longer,  and  the  battle-flags  are  furled, 
In  the  parliament  of  man,  the  federation  of  the  world," 

yet  assuredly  it  is  fast  approaching.  The  intelligence  of 
mankind,  that  lias  rendered  religious  persecution  impos- 
sible, that  has  forever  svv'ept  out  of  existence  the  racks, 
the  tlmmbscrews,  tlie  iron  boots,  the  gibbet,  the  fagotj  and 
all  other  infernal  instruments  of  torture  by  which  bigotry 


184  Theology  and  Mythology. 

sought  to  arrest  intellectual  growth,  will  yet  obliterate 
v.'ar,  the  crowning  curse  and  crime  of  humanity. 

When  men  shall  become  thoroughly  convinced  that 
no  amount  of  faith,  no  matter  how  fervent,  can  modify 
in  the  slightest  the  immutable  laws  of  nature  ;  when 
they  shall  cease  chasing  pliantoms  through  quagmires 
and  treacherous  morasses  of  speculation  ;  when  all  the 
intellectual  forces  shall  be  directed  to  the  improvement 
of  our  earthly  condition ;  when  all  the  energy,  time, 
wealth,  genius  and  power  now  employed  in  sustaining 
churches  founded  upon  myths  and  sustained  by  ignorance 
or  hypocrisy  shall  be  diverted  to  noble  fields  of  labor ; 
j  when  the  magnificent  forces  now  wasted  and  perverted, 
I  in  attempting  to  fasten  Oriental  mythologies  and  Asiatic 
j  mysticism  npon  the  civilization  of  the"  present,  shall  en- 
ter the  domain  of  scientific  investigation — then  may  we 
look  for  the  approach  of  man's  conquest,  not  only  over 
nature,  but  over  the  vicious  principles,  emanating  from 
a  false  education,  that  have  rendered,  in  the  past,  this 
happy  earth  a  hell  filled  with  violence,  oppression,  crime 
and  cruelty. 


CHAPTER  XI.     ' 

For  nearly  two  thousand  years  Christianity  has  had 
under  its  direction  the  shaping  of  the  civilization  of  the 
European  races.  Yet  for  sixteen  centuries  in  which  the 
influence  of  the  Church  was  supreme  and  undisputed, 
Europe  presented  almost  a  changeless  aspect  of  wars, 
bloodshed,  cruelty,  ignorance,  despotism,  and  the  sup- 
pression of  national  and  individual  liberty.  For  this 
condition  of  complete  barbarism  the  Church  must  be 
held  accountable.  It  has  been  only  since  the  Church 
began  to  lose  its  influence,  both  over  governments  and 
individuals,  that  education  has  become  at  all  popular. 
All  through  the  ages  properly  called  dark,  the  priest- 
hood was  partially  educated,  yet  we  find  no  attempt 
.made  to  convey  to  the  people  even  the  rudest  elements 
of  instruction.  The  celebration  of  the  mass  and  the  per- 
formance of  vulgar  "  miracle-plays,"  that  would  now  be 
considered  indecent  and  blasphemous,  were  the  only  in- 
tellectual exercises,  if  such  they  might  be  called,  oflfered 
to  the  people.  Yet  while  these  "  holy  plays,"  whicli 
served  to  debase  the  popular  taste,  were  encouraged,  the 
legitimate  drama  was  placed  under  the  ban  of  the  Church. 


1S6  Theology  and  Mythology. 

The  popnlrvcc  delighted  in  such  miserable  productions  as 
the  "  Peast  of  Fools,"  and  the  "  Feast  of  Asses,"  per- 
formed in  the  churches,  which  consisted  of  indecent 
dances,  caricatures  of  the  priesthood  and  parodies  of  the 
mass.  The  ^Yriter  has  himself,  as  late  as  1859,  witnessed 
in  Brittany,  France,  the  performance  of  one  of  these 
rude  plays,  in  which  the  crucifixion  was  represented.  It 
is  hardly  necessary  to  remark  that  the  only  feeling  it 
excited  was  one  of  inexpressible  disgust ;  yet  the  rustics 
seemed  to  enjoy  it.  It  must,  however,  in  justice  be 
stated  that  the  performance  Avas  not  in  a  church,  nor 
under  the  sanction  of  the  clergy.  Yet  while  the  noble 
dramas  of  Euripides,  Sophocles  and  ^schylus  were  in- 
terdicted, these  wretched  burlesques  were  not  only  toler- 
ated, but  encouraged.  Ignorance  was  canonized,  but 
the  tragic  muse  was  anathematized.  Noble  actors  who 
added  to  the  sum  of  human  happiness,  who  refined  and 
civilized  the  manners  of  the  age  by  delineation  of  the 
heroic  characters  of  history  or  the  creations  of  the  imag- 
ination, were  regarded  as  moral  lepers,  and  excommuni- 
cated. The  actress  Le  Couvreur,  brilliant  and  beautiful, 
was  denied  interment  in  consecrated  ground,  and  was 
buried  in  a  field  for  cattle  by  the  banks  of  the  Seine. 
Both  Philip  II  and  Philip  IV  banished  actors  from 
Spain.  Father  Posadas  caused  the  destruction  of  the 
theater  of  Cordova,  while  the 'Council  of  Illiberis,  one  of 
the  oldest  on  record,  prohibited  any  Christian  woman 
from  marrying  an  actor.  Indeed,  even  at  present,  the 
senseless  prejudice  against  actors  and  theaters  still  ex- 
ists, and  is  fostered  b}''  the  churches 

iSfothing  is  truer  than  that  the  Church,  as  long  as  it 
had  the  power,  has  been  tlio  relentless  op])onent  of  intel- 


Theology  and  Mythology.  187 

lectual  development  and  tlie  Litter  externiiiip.tor  of  every 
advocnte  of  free  thonglit  and  progress.  The  Freneh 
Revolution,  full  of  grandeur  and  full  of  shame,  was  as 
much  an  upheaval  of  the  people  against  the  despotism  of 
the  altar  as  the  throne.  To  the  unprejudiced  reader  of 
liistory  it  is  not  a  subject  of  wonderment  that  the  people 
of  France  then,  intoxicated  witli  the  strong  draughts  of 
the  new  wine  of  liberty  they  drank,  and  delirious  from 
the  effects  of  a  long  night  of  unparalleled  suffering  and 
degradation,  should  not  only  have  exterminated  royalty, 
but  proceeded  further  to  abolish  the  very  name  of  God, 
under  whose  assumed  sanction  so  many  unutterable  cru- 
elties and  indignities  had  been  inflicted  upon  them  for 
centuries.  Crowning  a  beautiful  ballet-girl,  though  of 
lax  morals,  as  goddess  of  Reason,  was  a  significant  re- 
buke to  a  debauched  priesthood,  and  a  sublime  defiance 
to  a  despotism  that  had  enslaved  and  corrupted  the  bril- 
liant genius  of  France.  It  was  the  legitimate  retort  of 
long-pent  forces,  though  we  need  hardly  say  that  as  an 
example  it  is  unworthy  of  imitation.  If  cruelty  unspeak- 
able has  disgraced  one  of  the  freest  movements  the  world 
ever  has.  known,  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  the  head  of 
tlie  Church  of  Christ  blessed  the  butchers  who  made  the  ' 

i 

sewers  of  Paris  run  red  with  the  blood  of  Protestant  ' 
Frenchmen,  Frenchwomen  and  children  on  St.  Barthol- 
omew's day.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  Llorente  him- 
self, a  secretary  in  the  Inquisition,  tells  us  (Hist,  de  I'ln- 
cpiisition.  Tome  lY,  pp.  271,  272)  that,  by  the  Spanish 
Inquisition  alone,  excluding  its  infernal  work  in  Mexico, 
Carthagenia,  the  Indies,  Lima,  Sicily,  Sardinia  and  Malta, 
tliirty-onc  tliousand  persons  of  all  ages,  ranks,  and  botli 
sexes  perished  in  the  flames,  and  two  hundred  and  ninety 


188  Theology  and  Mythology.     . 

/thousand  were  condemned  to  minor  punishment.     Let  it 
'  he  remembered  that  under  Charles  Y  not  less  than  fift}^ 
thousand  suffered  death  for  religious   opinions,  only  a 
little   over  three  hundred  years  ago.     Let  it  be  remem- 
bered  that  by   sentence   of  the  Holy  Office,  Feb.  IC, 
1568,  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands  were  con- 
\  demned   to  death  as  heretics.     Let  it   be  remembered 
'  also,  in  connection   with   all  these   atrocities,    that    the 
wretched  victims  of  ignorance  and  superstition  w^ere  not 
destroyed  by   a  painless  process,  but  were,  in  many  in. 
stances,  roasted  alive,  hung  in  chains  over  slow  fires,  had 
their  eyes  put  out  with  hot  irons,  their  bones  pulled  out 
of  their  sockets,  and   the  flesh  torn  from   their  limbs. 
Let  it,  too,  be  remembered  that  these  massacres  that 
turned  all  Europe  into  an  Aceldama,  and  every  city  into  a 
Golgotha,  were  not  confined  to   the   Catholic   Church, 
that  instituted  the  religious  persecution.    The  persecuting 
spirit  manifested  itself  equally  in  the  Protestant  Church, 
but  the  clerical  influence  in  Protestant  countries  was  for- 
tunately weak,  sickly  and  short-lived.     Let  this  be  re- 
membered, and  some  excuse  may  be  found  for  the  ex- 
i    cesses  of  the  French  Revolution.     History  repeats  itself. 
\  It  sometimes  avenges  itself. 

The  romance  of  inspiration  tells  us  that  the  birtji  of 

I  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  heralded  by  an  angelic  apparition 

I  to  shephei:ds  watching  their  flocks  by  night  on  the  lonely 

liills  of  Palestine,  and  that  the  heavenly  messengers  sang 

the  blessed  -anthem,   "Peace  on  earth  to  men  of  good 

will !"     Yet  to-day,  after  nineteen  centuries  of  Christian- 


'    ity  and   Christology,   all  Europe  is  a  camping-ground. 


i 

I 
i 

\    occupied   by  standing   armies  numbering  fonr  millions 
I    drilled  and  equipped  for  human  slaughter ;   and,  doubt 


Theology  and  Mythology.  ,        189 

less,  wlicn   the  trumpet's  blast  sounds  the  call  to  battle^ 
rapine   and  desolation,  and  lets  loose  the  avalanche  of  ' 
blootl,   the   silken  banners   of  the  mighty  hosts  will  be 
blessed  by  white-robed  priests,  while  with  solemn  serv- 
ices and  imposing  rites  the  favor  of  the    God   of  Battles 
will  be  invoked  as  of  old. 

What  a  commentary  is  this  upon  the  "divine"  origin 
and  mission  of  religion  ! 

How  much  is  purely  mythical  and  how  much  was 
real  and  actual  in  the  life  of  Jesus  must  remain  forever 
imdetermined.  Jesus  has  passed  beyond  the  domain  of 
satisfactory  investigation.  The  Gospel  narratives  are  as 
unreliable  as  they  are  meager.  Neither  the  authorship 
of  them  nor  the  dates  of  their  composition  is  established 
beyond  controversy.  K\\  biblical  scholars  know  that 
many  of  the  passages  expressive  of  the  divine  and  super- 
natural origin  of  Jesus,  as  well  as  the  doctrine  of  the 
trinity,  are  interpolations,  though  had  they  been  genuine"" 
they  would  prove  nothing.  What  additions,  alterations, 
omissions  and  mutilations  they  were  undoubtedly  sub- 
jected to  in  the  first  four  centuries  cannot  now  be  accu- 
rately determined.  Practically,  the  doctrine  of  biblical 
inspiration  has  been  abandoned  except  in  monkish  clois- 
ters, Avhere  the  honest  light  of  inquiry  never  beamed. 
The  Church  of  Rome  still  adheres  to  it,  as  w^ell  as  to  the 
extravagant  legends  of  the  early  centuries;  but  when 
was  she  ever  known  to  abandon  any  doctrine  she  once 
taught  or  recede  from  a  single  arrogant  pretension  ?  It 
is  only  within  a  few  years  that  she  solemnly  promul- 
gated the  even  grossly  unscriptural  doctrines  of  the  Im- 
maculate Conception  of  the  mother  of  Jesus,  and  the 
Infallibility  of  the  Pope  of  Pome,  amid  the  derisive  con- 


ir  I  Tluology  and  Myikologxj. 

Icuipt  of  ull  dissenting  churclies  and  against  tlie  earnest 
Ihongh  ineffectual  protest  of  the  intelligent  element  of 
lier  own  episcopate.  But  the  spirit  of  scientific  oi:.his- 
torical  investigation  never  enters  her  portals.  She  has 
stifled  all  free  inquiry.  She  tolerates  no  dissent.  She 
kindl}'-  relieves  her  members  of  all  the  burden  of  investi- 
gation. Nor  will  she  abandon  her  claims  to  the  sover- 
eio-nty  of  the  heart  and  intellect  and  the  control  of  tlie 
human  conscience  until  the  emancipated  intelligence  of 
the  v.'orld  sounds  the  tocsin  of  her  doom. 

Conceding  merely  for  the  sake  of  argument  that  the 
influence  of  religious  worship,  based  upon  doctrines  and 
presumptions  untrue  in  fact,  has  been  on  the  whole  ben- 
eficial to  mankind,  a  question  arises,  worthy  of  consider- 
ation, whether  any  form  of  worship  or  any  religion  that 
docs  not  commend  itself  to  reason  and  intelligence 
should  be,  for  the  sake  of  a  doubtful  good,  sanctioned  , 
and  sustained  outwardly  by  those  wlio  repudiate  as  child- 
ish the  theory  of  miraculous  interpositions  and  the  divine 
communication  of  Revelation,  so  called  ?  Can  any  sys- 
tem of  morality  based  upon  a  fiction  be  beneficial  to 
mankind  ?  Can  we  be  elevated  by  continuing  to  express 
belief  in  a  religion  all  of  whose  assumptions  are  opposed 
to  reason,  intelligence  and  the  results  of  scientific  inves- 
tir^ation  ?  If  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  not  God  or  the  son 
of  God,  born  of  a  virgin  in  Judea  about  two  thousand 
years  ago  ;  if  Jesus  never  v>^6rked  the  miracles  attributed 
to  him,  never  fed  five  thousand  hungry  people  with  five 
loaves  and  two  small  fishes,  and  after  they  had  eaten 
took  up  twelve  basketsful  of  the  broken  food  ;  if  he  was 
never  taken  bodily  up  to  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple  by 


Theology  and  Mythology.       '  191 

the  Devil;  if  he  riever  raised  a  man  to  life  really  dead; 
if  he  never  raised  himself  from  the  dead,  and,  with  the 
wounds  he  received  still  fresh  in  his  body,  cut  his  "svay 
through  the  clear  air  up  to  heaven,  wherever  it  may  be ; 
if  the  blood  that  ran  from  him  at  his  crucifixion  was  not, 
and  could  not  be,  an  atonement  for  the  moral  guilt  of 
the  world,  past,  present  and  future — if  not  a  single  one 
of  these  allegations  be  true,  can  humanity  be  improved 
and  elevated  by  accepting  them  as  absolute  verities,  as 
well  as  the  early  mythology  of  the  Jewish  race  ?  Can 
they  who  refuse  to  accept  these  legends,  if  legends  they 
be,  consistently  support  a  popular  religion  based,  as  tliey 
believe,  on  utterly  false  assum.ptions  ? 

To  this  it  may  be  replied  tliat  noble  lessons  of  moral- 
ity and  self-restraint  may  bo  found  in  works  of  pure 
fiction.  This  is  undoubtedly  true.  Yet  no  violence  is 
done  either  the  conscience  or  intelligence,  because  the 
fiction  is  universally  admitted.  But  it  is  different  when 
the  fiction  assumes  the  form  of  a  relicrion.  Is  he  true  to 
his  own  manhood  who,  believing  the  assumed  miraculous 
origin  of  Christianity  purely  mythical,  lifts  no  voice, 
however  weak,  against  what  he  believes  to  be  an  imposi- 
tion, and,  by  his  silence,  leads  others  to  infer  that  con- 
scious assent  maybe  given  to  error  without  serious  detri- 
ment to  the  conscience  of  an  individual  ?  Does  not  even 
a  danger  graver  than  that  denounced  as  "  open  infidelity" 
threaten  society,  when  hypocrisy  is  practiced  without 
compunction,  and  men  suppress  free  thought  and  honest 
conviction  through  fear  of  being  considered  atheists,  infi- 
dels, free-thinkers  and  materialists?  The  atheist  or 
infidel  who  discharges  honestly  and  intelligently  the 
duty  he  owes  to  himself,  his  family  and  society  to  tlie 


192  Theology  and  Mythology. 

best  of  his  ability,  uninfluenced  by  hope  of  future  reward 
or  apprehension  of  future  punishment,  exhibits  far  more 
true  nobleness  of  character  than  the  pious  man  who  wor- 
ships God  after  the  fashion,  or  fears  the  Devil  from  pru- 
dential motives.  To  do  right  because  it  is  right  is  the 
highest  moral  development  man  can  attain.  It  is  this 
quality  that  pre-eminently  distinguishes  manhood  from 
animalhood.  This  elevation  of  moral  dignity  can  only 
])e  attained  by  the  freest  exercise  of  all  the  faculties, 
moral  and  intellectual.  Absolute  perfection  will,  of 
course,  never  be  attained,  yet  will  man  ever  restlessly 
pursue  his  El  Dorado  and  the  fabled  fountains  of  perpet- 
ual life.  He  is  ever  conscious  that  grander  prospects 
will  gladden  his  eyes,  and  that  his  feet  will  press  loftier 
heights  than  his  fathers  reached.  Science,  and  not  the 
Devil,  will  take  the  son  of  man  of  the  future  up  to  the 
very  pinnacle  of  the  fair  temple  of  knowledge,  and  re- 
veal to  his  enraptured  gaze  all  the  glories  of  his  own 
world  and  the  outlying  sj'stems  of  universes,  revolving 
in  the  fathomless  depths  of  originless  and  endless  in- 
finity. 

AVhen  the  full  light,  streaming  on  the  magnificent 
panorama,  shall  have  revealed  to  him  the  uniraagined 
grandeur  and  harmony  of  nature's  laws  ;  when  his  soul 
shall  have  grasped,  in  all  its  completeness,  the  relation 
of  the  atom  to  the  universe  and  the  universe  to  the  atom ; 
when,  denuded  of  the  garments  with  which  priestcraft 
and  superstition  have  enveloped  it,  the  dematerialized 
form  of  Necessity  shall  disclose  its  presence,  whether  in 
the  dewdrop  glistening  in  the  morning  grass,  or  in  the 
revolution  of  the  starry  heavens ;  when  he  shall  grasp 
the  idea  that   Eternity  has  no  tenses,  that  matter  is  un- 


Theology  and  Mythology.  19 


q 


created  and  indestructible,  and  that  law,  and  not  chance 
or  arbitrary  interference,  disposes  the  relation  of  all  ex- 
istences one  to  the  other — then  he  will  trouble  himself 
little  as  to  what  form  of  worsliip  ignorance  may  have 
assumed  to  sa,tisfy  its  craving  for  something  better  than 
it  liad  known. 

When  Science  shall  reveal  the  nature  and  composition 
of  the  now  occult  forces  whose  existence  is  only  discern- 
ible by  their  manifestations  ;  when  Ave  shall  know  some- 
thing more  of  attraction,  gravitation,  heat,  motion  and 
magnetism  than  the  mere  names  we  give  to  these  mighty 
elements  ;  when  a  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  life 
ami  thought  itself  shall  constitute  the  basis  of  the  educa- 
tion of  the  world' — then  man,  divorced  alike  from  faith 
and  superstition,  twin  daughters  of  ignorance,  shall  have 
no  need  for  any  religious  system,  and  worship  shall  only 
consist  in  the  exercise  of  the  reasoning  powers.  Intelli- 
gent inquiry  and  scientific  investigation  have  almost  left 
the  churches  behind.  The  religious  systems  that  have 
existed  are  but  milestones  denoting  the  progress  man 
has  made  along  the  weary  way  he  has  trodden  for  count- 
less centuries,  stained  with  tears  and  blood,  in  his  career 
from  the  lowest  condition  of  savage  existence  to  his  pres- 
ent intellectual  development. 

Religions  are  stationary,  but  Science  is  ever  advancing, 
making  new  conquests.  The  assumptions  of  the  miracu- 
lous origin  of  Christianity  and  many  of  its  doctrines  are 
no  longer  in  harmony  with  the  advanced  spirit  of  the 
asre.  The  Church  stands  still  and  views  the  changed 
aspect  of  the  age  with  well-grounded  alarm.  She  no 
longer  anathematizes  Science,  because  Science  has  escaped 
from  her  grasp  and  refuses  to  turn  aside  from  her  legiti- 


194:  Theology  and  Mythology. 

/iiijite  course  cither  nt  entreaty  or  denunciation.  The  in- 
I'aliiLle  Pope  occasionally  hurls  his  ecclesiastical  thunder- 
bolts at  the  head  of  his  rebellious  subjects ;  but  his  lofty 
pretensions,  at  variance  Avith  the  spirit  of  the  times,  ex- 
cite only  profound  commiseration.  Faith  has  lost  con- 
trol of  the  intellect  of  the  world.  It  is  well  satisfied  if 
let  alone.  It  asks  the  world  to  respect  its  ago  and  not 
view  too  cynically  its  threadbare  garments.  Science, 
caring  nothing  for  the  past,  except  to  regret  it,  is  un- 
moved by  the  attitude  of  faith.  In  no  vandalistic  or 
iconoclastic  spirit  docs  it  seek  the  destruction  of  any 
religious  systems.  It  busies  itself  with  neither  their 
maintenance  nor  dissolution.  Its  mission  is  to  widen 
the  field  of  human  inquiry,  to  define  man's  place  in  na- 
ture, and  purify  and  sweeten  life,  as  well  as  dignify 
humanity  by  making  man   acquainted  with  the  laws  of 

,  his  being  and  existence.  If,  however,  the  result  of  in- 
creased intellectual  development  shall  be  to  dissipate  all 
faith  in  miraculous  interpositions  of  the  past,  and  render 
impossible  the  reception  by  intelligence  of  any  Revela- 
tion based  upon  hypotheses  that  involve  the  most  glaring 
contradictions  of  the  well-established  natur'al  laws  on  a 

,  knowledge  of  which  our  very  existence  is  dependent, 
then,  and  in  such  an  event,  may  we  rest  fully  assured 
that  such  a  result,  instead  of  being  injurious  morally, 
spiritually  or  materially,  will  subserve  the  interests  of 
humanity  in  the  present  and  in  the  future. 

FINIS. 


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